tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87945898244035210082024-02-06T19:00:58.022-08:00One otter around the world18 months, 13 countries and 6 different languages; in the immortal words of Jeremy Clarkson...
"...How hard can it be? ..."Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.comBlogger521125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-40407766795979991782017-01-02T18:19:00.002-08:002017-01-02T18:19:34.595-08:00Going HomeDate: Saturday 31st December 2016<br />Weather: Due to leaving South Korea at 8 am, I had no idea what the weather was like. Back in Japan, it was overcast with a little rain.<br />MP3 track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0">Gangnam Style</a> – PSY<br />
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Though I knew it would happen, I still wasn't ready for my 4 am alarm. Still, fearing that I would miss my flight I got up, got ready and headed out into the night. With my suitcase trailing behind me, I followed the instructions given to me by the hotel staff and found the 'airport bus' stand with relative ease. Annoyingly, my hotel had told me that the first airport bus started at 5:30 am, whereas the sign here stated 4:30 am. With an hour and twenty minutes drive ahead of me, I only had an hour and forty minutes to clear check-in, baggage, security and immigration; an earlier bus would have been very handy.<br /><br />The airport bus service was every fifteen minutes throughout the day and so I didn't have to wait long; and neither did I have to wait alone. With me was a large group of South Korean tourist I presumed were all heading off together. What was annoying was that, when I turned up, the group only had five members. By the time the bus turned up the group had swelled to around twelve and all seven of the new members felt that it was fine to push in front of me. Fortunately there was enough room on the bus for all, but only just. After another three or so stops the bus stopped stopping due to being full, leaving confused and worried passengers waiting for another bus.<br /><br />Whilst on the bus I decided to reflect on my trip to Seoul. I would have gone to sleep however, the old lady next to me decided to use this journey to call EVERY LIVING RELATATIVE she knew … at 5am! I am glad that I came to Seoul. The experience has been 'full on' and I wished that I'd had another couple of days; not to see any more stuff, but to take my time. If you want to experience Asia, but only have a week-or-so to do it in, then I think Seoul is a pretty good place due to its bizarre mix of extreme modernisation, and poorer areas. It is a city where South East Asia has crashed into Japan; there is rubbish down all side streets with open-tent restaurants and yet, everyone pays for everything by card. For me though, I prefer South East Asia AND Japan because they are separate. The variety of food is fantastic and Korean food, though tasty, is not for me due to the sheer amount of spice. The biggest let down for me were the people. I'm not sure if it is because I'm in a big city – and I find most people in a big city are in more of a rush than people in rural areas – but I found the people to be very rude and unhelpful. Even when I was spending money, I felt as though I was a nuisance to be moved along quickly. Throughout the trip, I really missed Japan's level of customer service. Also … no Soulite smiles ever!<br /><br />My thoughts ended as I approached Incheon International Airport. Amazed at the size of the place I went in with an hour and forty minutes until my flight departed. For some unknown reason, I'd forgotten that today was the last day of the year. I'd thought that, given the time was 7 am, the airport would be pretty quiet. It was nothing of the sort. I raced to my check-in area before queuing up to hand in my baggage. The line backed on itself at least five times though, there were eighteen baggage hand-in desks. It took about twenty minutes to get rid of my luggage.<br /><br />Incheon International Airport had been voted the best 'international airport of 2016' and it's easy to see why. Unlike Seoul, everything was well organised, there was lots of signs and people did queue properly. Sadly though, through back luck, it seemed that whenever I had an option of a 'lane' I always chose the longest. This meant that I finally got to my boarding gate ten minutes before boarding. I quickly went to the toilet and spent the last of my 'Wong' on some over-priced Cadbury's chocolate and a bottle of water.<br /><br />Once on the plane I eventually relaxed. Due to intense cloud cover, the plane experienced more turbulence than the flight going to South Korea. Still, I sat down and ate my breakfast – a hot dog thing – plus I watched most of 'The BFG' before the flight landed safely in Sendai. Surprisingly, Japanese immigration was terribly organised. There was one officer assigned to a long line of foreign nationals, one officer for a medium-sized line of foreign nations with special permission to live in Japan (that's me) and THREE offers for the six Japanese nationals who alighted the plane. The situation was so bad that foreign nationals from the first queue ignored the lady who had organised us and just joined any queue. It took an immigration official to actually come out from behind his desk to get everyone back in line with the promise of a more even spread of immigration officials per traveller. By the time I'd got to 'baggage reclaim', my luggage had travelled around the conveyor belt at least three times.<br /><br />Once done I made my way to the train station and alighted a train bound for Sendai station. I then wasted no time in transferring to the train which would take me home. Once at my apartment, I unpacked, went out to do a little food shopping and had a relaxing – but no way near as nice as the hotel's shower – shower before going to sleep at 7 pm.<br /><br />So another holiday over. Where next I hear you cry. Well, I am not sure at the moment but I do have a sneaky suspicion that it'll be somewhere in Europe.<br /><br />Toodle Pip!Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-30023691269710859762017-01-02T17:29:00.001-08:002017-01-02T17:30:08.924-08:00ShatteredDate: Friday 30th December 2016<br />
Weather: Slightly warmer than the other days. The day started with a beautiful blue sky however, by mid-afternoon, that had changed to an overcast sky.<br />
MP3 track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0">Gangnam Style</a> – PSY<br />
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Due to having a very late night last night, I got up at around 9 am however, I got ready quickly and left my hotel, walking east, at 9:30 am. I decided to visit the market close to my hotel which I'd visited late on my first night here and yes, this time more of it was open. I ordered some market food which was expensive and not very nice at all – it needed some sauce. Once that 'must do experience' was over, I proceeded to my next culinary 'must do experience'. Issac toast is a fast-food restaurant selling, you guessed it, toast. It is apparently a very popular breakfast and so I ordered the ham and cheese toast which, was cheaper than the market food, and tastier … but only just. The bread was ridiculously sweet making it quite hard to stomach. With that done, I found myself within the Dongdaemun area which had a nice hill and a lovely church just behind it. I climbed the hill to get a panoramic view of the city below. This part of the city was certainly very modern due to the beautiful new shopping centres and skyscrapers which lay before me. It was so modern that, when I went to the toilet in one of the 'posh shopping centres' there wasn't a 'poo bin' (South Korea's plumbing isn't spectacular therefore, tissue paper of any sort is not allowed to be flushed down the toilet … meaning that toilets have bins where people put their used tissue … lovely).With little to see in this area, I didn't stay long and soon I was on an underground train bound for an area of Seoul called Gangnam. Once again, pushing onto the train seemed the order of the day and when I showed my shock through suggestive gestures, a Korean woman just laughed at me as if to say 'this is Korea'.<br />
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Now, you may have heard the name 'Gangnam' before. It was, of course, the name of the 2012 hit-single by PSY. The song has over 2.3 billion views on 'You Tube' and is a musical assault on the hollowness of Korea's richest neighbourhood – Gangnam – and the phoniness of those who aspire to live here. As the song put the area in a bad light, you would have thought that any mention of the hit 'Gangnam Style' wouldn't have been mentioned within these modern streets and yet, as I exited Gangnam station, there was a public piece of art dedicated to the song. With that photographed I proceeded along the main street, which looked as though it had been transported directly out of New York. The buildings were high and the advertising was enormous. What's more, even the side streets here didn't look like they were from the 1950's; everything seemed pretty new.<br />
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Once I'd had a good look around, I'd purchased some McVities biscuits - which I couldn't get in Japan - and found the restaurant I'd wanted to have dinner in however alas, it didn't open for another hour and a half. I therefore went to a 'Taco Bell' restaurant which, all of my American friends praise highly (however, I couldn't see what all the fuss was about), before deciding to leave the area determined to come back to my restaurant. I would be leaving to visit South Korea's Olympic Park however, before that, my guidebook had highlighted the fact that Gangnam housed Samsung's headquarters and with that came a store called 'Samsung D'light'; a store showing the electronic products of tomorrow. I went in and discovered some crazy stuff including a round cylinder PC and a beautiful interactive plasma TV. I also tried on some virtual glasses which were amazing! Once I'd finished playing I headed back into the underground station and off I went to the Olympic park.<br />
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I'm not sure if it was all the 'inside', then 'outside', then 'inside, then 'outside movement … or all of the train journeys … or the differences in temperature I was experiencing however, I was starting to feel unwell. I had a huge headache which would occur every-so-often. It was weird but, sometimes I would feel dreadful and then, twenty seconds later, I would feel fine. I therefore decided to make my visit to the Olympic Park brief before returning to Gangnam for something to eat to see if that made me feel any better. South Korea hosted the 1988 Olympics and at its centrepiece was the 'Olympic Peace Gate'; a colossal gate with two huge wings painted in a traditional Korean style. I marvelled at its beauty and took a lot of photos. Feeling better I walked through the gate and past an ice rink where a lot of skaters were having fun. I proceeded to where the flags of all the nations who took part were placed. Being that 'peace' was the overall theme for the Olympics, I was surprised to find that the North Korean flag was missing. There were also a couple of interesting flags including East Germany, the USSR and two countries that I have never heard of; 'Figi' and 'Great Bretan'. Still, if I was using the Korean alphabet I'm sure that I would have trouble to spell a single word, let alone country names. Once I'd seen the flags I walked back through the peace gate and back into the underground. I was back in Gangnam within twenty minutes.<br />
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I made my way to the restaurant I'd wanted to eat at earlier and discovered that, though it was open, I was the only diner. I still sat down and ordered. This restaurant was famous for fried chicken and so I ordered the 'fried chicken with soy sauce and spices' … which was delicious. After paying I left Gangnam for the final time and proceeded west to an underground stop called Noryangjin which, I thought, would be a good place to see the Hangang; Seoul's main river. Within the station I met a tourist information officer who explained to me that I'd chosen poorly; he showed me photos of a 'rainbow bridge' which was a few stops north-east, on the other side of the river. I didn't ignore his advice; instead, I saved it for later. I went back into the underground station and kept going west due to the fact that, before arriving in Seoul, I'd read my guidebook and I'd highlighted a small island two stops west of where I currently was. The name of this island was Yeouido.<br />
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Though in it's past this island wasn't particularity favoured among Seoulites, it has grown in appeal and today it has a rather modern feel to it due to a lot of apartments. I exited at the island's most southern station and walked twenty-or-so minutes north-east to where the island stopped. The walk wasn't that interesting however, once I'd hit the northern coast the night view over the river and into the heart of Seoul was worth the effort. What's more; on the key there were lovely lights, food stalls and a Christmas market. I had a good look around, purchasing some more spicy Korean food and visiting the Christmas market where there were quite a few things I could have purchased. This view over the Hangang river has become one of the highlights of my entire trip because it was so unexpected. Sadly though, I still wasn't feeling great and so I made my trip short. I went away from the coast and into Yeouinaru station; from there I went back to Myeongdong to do a bit of last minute shopping.<br />
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Once I'd finished in Myeongdong, I really should have gone back to my hotel due to how I felt and the fact that I had to be up at 4:30 am tomorrow to get a bus to the airport. Annoyingly this 'rainbow bridge' was still playing on my mind and so after umming and arring, I decided to try and find it. I got to the station I was told to go to by the tourist information officer however, after exiting, I discovered that it was such a long walk away I gave up and went back into the station annoyed that I'd wasted a good forty minutes.<br />
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I got back to my hotel late again and so, all of the restaurants were closed. I therefore had no option and went back to 'Tom and Tom's cafe' for a lasagne and a lovely cheesecake. As I headed back to my hotel I stopped, for the final time, at the local convenience store and bought every Twix he had left (seventeen of them to be exact). With that I went to my room, ate my dinner, took some tablets and packed for tomorrow. It was almost midnight before I got into bed and I would have to be up at 4:30 am tomorrow. Seoul, through its mix of old and new, had half killed me; I wasn't feeling very well, I was tired and yet … I'd achieved a lot in three days and I'd had a good time. Plenty of time to rest once home.<br />
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Toodle Pip!Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-88491711106659701392017-01-02T01:17:00.002-08:002017-01-02T01:17:41.013-08:00Central SeoulDate: Thursday 29th December 2016<br />Weather: It had snowed lightly last night giving every building in Seoul a beautiful, light sugary cover of snow. The day was a little cold due to a light breeze but there was still a beautiful blue sky.<br />MP3 track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0">Gangnam Style</a> – PSY<br />
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Having gone to bed early the night before, I found myself wide awake at 7 am. Once again I decided not to pay for breakfast at my hotel and instead, I waited until I reached my destination for the day; Jeongdong … the central district of Seoul. Instead of walking, I used my rail card for the first time (and interestingly, my card was docked 1,275 Wong (85p) when I went through my first ticket barrier and NOT when I went through my last. This meant that no matter how far you travel on the underground; no matter how many changes you make, as long as you don't go through a ticket barrier a journey will always cost the same amount no matter how far you travel). Though being respectful to your elders is very important in South Korea, it would appear that queuing is not. As I went to board the train Koreans of all ages pushed in front of me and my elbows had never been so busy.<br /><br />I alighted at the 'city hall' stop and, once at street-level, I got my bearings. I found myself looking across a large circular area of snow-covered park land. In front of me was a hotel, (the President) which I'd almost decided to stay at, and around it lots of tall skyscrapers. To my right was another huge hotel with a beautiful Christmas tree outside. To my left was the city's library with the city's new city hall directly behind. The library is one of Seoul's many colonial architectural buildings and most of these buildings are within this area. They were built within the Japanese occupation period of 1910 – 1945 and were built along Neoclassical lines, although there are splashes of Art Deco as well. Understandably, a lot of the buildings built during the occupation period have been pulled down or destroyed and, it is said, that some Koreans are not too fond with the buildings which remain however, these buildings are now protected and, I think, it is a good thing too as a) they are some of the prettiest buildings in Seoul and b) they are still a part of the cities history whether that history is good or bad. What is interesting is that these colonial buildings were the tallest buildings of their day and this was on purpose; it was to remind the Korean people who were actually in charge. These days these buildings are choked by a lot of skyscrapers humbling them. As mentioned above, the new city hall is directly behind the old Japanese colonial library and the city hall has been designed to look like a wave, towering over and washing away Seoul's colonial past.<br /><br />My first stop was a 'Dunkin Donuts'. I ordered a doughnut, a hot chocolate and a 'cheese and ham bake' which was okay however, I preferred yesterday's sandwich. Whilst in 'Dunkin Donuts' I studied my map and made a plan. I would visit the small palace of Deoksugung first before walking around the area taking in all of the buildings. I would then leave this area and head east through Namdaemun Market and into Myeondong; Soul Korea's main shopping area. With that decided I left 'Dunkin Donuts' and made my way to the palace. As today was not 'South Korea's Day of Culture', I had to pay to get in. Once I had my ticket I slipped cautiously past the guards - who were again in traditional clothing - and went through the first gate. Paying wasn't as much as of an annoyance as you may think; it reduced the amount of people looking around the area enormously.<br /><br />Compared to yesterday's palaces, this one was tiny though no less interesting. This complex had both Chinese-looking ancient buildings and Japanese-colonial buildings; along with the snow, it was a joy to photograph this area. Once finished, I left the palace and walked around the area taking in all of the embassies and staring up at the skyscrapers. I also managed to find the area the demonstrators were currently camped and therefore, I saw the gate to Gyeongbokgung palace I'd visited yesterday. Finally, it was time to leave this area and so I headed south-east, past the city hall once more and past a beautiful ancient Korean gate called 'Namdaemun'. Near to this gate was a Korean sweet shop called 'Bizeun'. My guidebook had highlighted it due to the fact that this shop made traditional Korean sweets and, though they didn't look as delicious as chocolate, I felt that they would make an interesting gift for my work colleagues. I decided to return later.<br /><br />I had now left 'modern South Korea' and was now entering Namdaemun Market; a chaotic area of street stalls, boiling food products, shouting and motorbikes winding their way through pedestrians. The place was packed and, as most things on sale were either clothes or food, I chose a road and just kept walking east until I left the market, occasionally stopping to examine goods in more detail. This market was a maze of small side streets and hidden building entrances with three or more floors of stalls. You could have spent a whole day here and still not have seen everything; it was crazy and my senses were on full alert.<br /><br />Once out I'd made it to the area of Myeongdong; Korea's main shopping area. Some Japanese visitors spend their entire trip within this area, never leaving Myeongdong's borders and it showed due to a number of Japanese signs splashed all over the walls. The area seemed to be focused on only two products; clothes and cosmetics, neither of which I am particularity interested in. I therefore used my guidebook to find a 'famous restaurant' and went for lunch.<br /><br />The restaurant was packed with people and miserable-looking waitresses. I was abruptly shown to my table and then, five seconds later, I was asked what I wanted to order (I hadn't even sat down). I apologised and quickly opened the menu. I spent a minute or so deciding what I wanted and placed my order whilst apologising again for no reason whatsoever. I'd ordered ten dumpling things and a spicy soup; again the blandness of the dumplings went well with the spicy soup. Once finished I paid for my meal before returning to my table - to pick up my bags and coat – to see that all of my plates had magically disappeared. It was then that a different miserable-looking waitress approached me and asked bluntly what I wanted to order. I apologised again and told her that I'd already eaten. I then ran out of the restaurant.<br /><br />Back in the streets of Myeongdong, I went back into 'modern South Korea' by entering two very expensive looking shopping centres. I skipped the clothing sections and took the elevator down to the basement to look around the food area. I bought some South Korean chocolate. Through with shopping, I left the shopping centres and found the traditional South Korean sweet shop (I spent £50 on eight boxes of sweets for my five schools). I then slowly made my way to Seoul's main train station where I collapsed within another 'Dunkin Donuts'.<br /><br />Once refreshed, I decided that I would head back to my hotel to drop off all of my shopping (each box of sweets weighed 200g) before I would head back out at night to go up Seoul's Tower. I left Seoul's main train station at 5:15 pm and arrived back at my hotel at 6 pm. After a quick freshen-up, I left my hotel at 6:30 pm and made my way back to Myeongdong; which is where the entrance to the tower is.<br /><br />Darkness had fallen and the night sky was perfect; there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. Sadly everyone else in Seoul had thought the same and the queue to get into the cable car was horrendous.<br /><br />The cable car took me up a small mountain which is located directly in the middle of the city of Seoul. Once the cable car had stopped, I found myself at the base of a modest-looking tower (though, due to being planted on the top of a small mountain, the tower was the same height as Tokyo's Skytree). I then joined another huge queue which took me up to the observation deck. Before reaching the observation deck, I had to deal with one of those stupid people who take a photo of you in front of a green screen, before planting it onto a fake background of Seoul Tower. If that wasn't enough, the elevator roof had a stupid fake video. As the elevator ascended up the tower, the video showed us bursting into space, flying around an asteroid belt and landing on an alien planet with Seoul's Tower sticking out of it. As you can imagine, I was quite relieved to arrive; I then spent my time gazing down onto the city of Seoul. Though the glass windows could have done with a clean, the view was amazing. Seoul was lit up like a Christmas tree and I could even see my hotel. I very much enjoyed taking in the view and I also enjoyed looking at the glass, as the names of different major cities were written on the glass with how many kilometres away they were.<br /><br />I spent a good forty-five minutes at the top of the tower before, reluctantly, joining another huge queue to get down. The lift performed the same stupid video but in reverse however, mercifully, the cable car had no stupid 'fake' special effects. Once back in Myeongdong, I checked my watch … 10pm! Due to the sheer amount of people, it had taken three and a half hours to go up Seoul's Tower. Annoyingly, once back near my hotel, most restaurants had closed therefore, I found myself in 'Tom and Tom's cafe' ordering whatever they had left (though, not until the waitress had finished her text message). It took twenty minutes to receive two pepperoni pretzels. I thanked the waitress and took my food out of the cafe. I visited the local convenience store for a twix before getting back to my room at 11:20 pm. I ate dinner, had a shower and collapsed on my beautiful king-sized bed. What a day!<br /><br />Toodle Pip!Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-72316690009690770862017-01-02T01:10:00.003-08:002017-01-02T01:10:44.735-08:00Street food, palaces and boxesDate: Wednesday 28th December 2016<br />Weather: Cold but with beautiful blue skies.<br />MP3 track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0">Gangnam Style</a> – PSY<br />
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I woke up at around 8 am having had a wonderful nights sleep. When I booked this hotel, quite a few reviews suggested that the breakfast served wasn't worth the cost therefore, I headed out into the city walking west towards the centre of Seoul and, coincidently, towards Seoul's historical area where I'd planned to spend most, if not all, of my day. Having had spicy Korean food last night, my stomach yearned for something a little more forgiving this morning; the first restaurant which appealed to me was Burger King however, once inside, the payment system seemed to be completely electronic and only allowed for payments by card. I therefore left Burger King and found a Subway. I ordered a lovely chicken sandwich which, though expensive, was exactly what I felt like eating. Speaking of money; yesterday I'd paid for my hotel and my entire trips transport costs. I knew that this would happen however, it was still a shock when I looked into my wallet. Therefore, after breakfast, I headed to a bank to change a little Japanese money I'd brought with me in case I needed it. Once fed and resupplied with cash, I proceeded on foot to my first attraction for the day; Gyeongbokgung. I didn't go there directly; instead, I meandered my way through the side-streets slightly perplexed by how the main streets could look so modern, and how the side-streets would have been more at home in Cambodia. Seoul really is a city where two economic worlds have collided.<br /><br />Once at Gyeongbokgung palace, It's main gate - Gwanghwamun – had three archways protected by five guards in historical clothing and armed with historical weaponry. I proceeded through the right-hand archway and looked up at the beautiful wooden ceiling with two painted dragons circling one another. I was enjoying photographing the ceiling so much that I failed to keep track of the time. Why is this important you may ask? Well, at 11am there is a 'changing of the guard' and, as I looked away from the ceiling and back the way I'd come, the five guards were marching towards me with a stern look on their faces which I read to mean that they weren't getting out of the way for anyone. Surprised to find that they hadn't marched down the centre archway, it took a second for me to leap into action and I bolted to the end of the gate. In front of me I had two options; I could keep running straight into the open courtyard area which leads to the inner gate – a large area for me to run away from them however, I felt as though the guards would be heading this way as I thought that they must be heading into the palace – or I could turn right and hug the outer wall. I turned right … only to find that the guards also turned right. I was then forced against the wall as the guards marched past me. Once gone I took a second or so to compose myself and to look around to see how many people had witnessed my misfortune. I then proceeded to the ticket counter to find that today was Korea's 'Day of Culture' and therefore, this site was free to enter. I then went through Heungnyemun; the palaces' inner gate.<br /><br />Gyeongbokgung palace is the city's most popular tourist sight and is a focal point for the country as a whole (which was evident due to the recent demonstration against South Korea's president being just across the main road from the palace). This palace – named the “Palace of Shinning Happiness” - was commissioned by King Taejo in 1394 to house the royal family of the Joseon dynasty shortly after they transferred their capital here in 1392. It was completed in 1399 and held the regal throne for over two hundred years. At the peak of its importance, the palace housed over 400 buildings. Within its history, the palace has witnessed countless fires, military destruction and even a royal assassination therefore, all of the buildings have been rebuilt in a massive 'forty-year' campaign (which started in 1989 and is still on-going) to get this palace back to its former glory. Having had twenty-seven years of construction time, a lot of it had been rebuilt and it was a joy to move through the inner courtyard and to see architecture which had a very Chinese feel to it. I then proceeded out the back of the temple and into the gardens where I saw the 'Hyangwonjeong'; a pagoda in the middle of a frozen pond. It was within this area that I was approached by seven Korean girls all wearing 'chima jeogori' ('Google it'; it's a beautiful Korean dress). They asked if I could take their photo to which I said yes. What was really weird was that they were all smiling and, actually, seemed very happy indeed. This was bizarre because all of the Koreans I'd met so far were miserable and sounded as though they were continually having an argument. All became clear when I asked where in Korean they were from … Thailand.<br /><br />Once out of the palace grounds I proceeded back east towards another large palace called 'Changdeokgung' (I hope that you are having fun pronouncing all of the names). On the way, I stopped at a 'Dunkin' Donuts' for a lovely hot chocolate and a doughnut. I could have had lunch however, 'attraction opening times' was short and I wanted to see this other palace. Once I'd finished my snack, I left the doughnut shop and proceed to the entrance of the palace. Yet again the palace was free to enter however, I paid 5,000 Wong (£3.40) for an English guided tour of 'The Secret Garden' (you weren't allowed to see the garden without going on a tour).<br /><br />Whereas Gyeongbokgung Palace was destroyed long ago, Changdeokgung Palace was home to royalty until very recently – 1910 – making it the best-preserved palace in the city. Its construction was finished in 1412 and was commissioned by King Taejong. It has more of an international feel as some of its buildings are a direct image of Chinese ones. The palace was lovely and now being late in the day, I seemed to be the only one around allowing for excellent photographing opportunities. My favourite complex of buildings was so packed that it was pretty easy to lose your way and get lost. <br /><br />Once I'd seen each area of buildings – bar one – I proceeded to the meeting point for the English tour and got their five minutes before the start. For me, this garden was a little bit of a disappointment however, this was no fault of the garden itself. My guidebook talks of beautiful flowers and lotus ponds however, being winter, all of that colour was in hiding, preparing for the next summer. I was left with the 'bare-bones' of the place … which was okay but didn't give the impression of a garden which, in the 1400's, only the royal family of Korea could visit (everyone else was banned). The guide also wasn't that great as I could only understand about two out of ten English words she was saying. I therefore gave up listening to her – along with a lot of the group – and just proceeded to take the best photos possible. Once the tour had finished, I proceeded back to the area of buildings I'd missed before exiting the site. The time was around 5 pm and my feet were knackered. I headed back to the 'Dunkin Donuts' shop I'd visited earlier for another hot chocolate and spent a little bit of time resting my feet and creating a plan.<br /><br />Eventually, I decided to stay within the area I found myself in due to my guidebook stating that this was an excellent place to buy souvenirs. I proceeded to a street full of souvenir stalls and had a look inside most of the shops including a souvenir complex with four floors of stalls. In the end, I opted to return to a shop I'd entered earlier to buy my souvenir. I chose this shop due to the fact that, in a lot of other shops, I was continually hounded by the staff to buy something … in this shop I was left alone. I walked away with a nice Korean wooden box for £26 before heading into an area of small side-streets with hundreds of 'tent-like' restaurants all serving 'Yakiniku' (small slivers of meat which you barbeque). I chose one restaurant and, after pointing at many different photos, I had a table full of food plus a coke. The food was very nice; unknowingly, I had managed to order a nice mix of spicy and non-spicy dishes which complemented themselves well. Whilst eating I peered out of the window and watched the chaos unfold outside. Driving in Korea is almost suicidal as cars consistently change lanes and cut each other up; this results in the horn being used a lot and with most drivers having blacked-out windows. Tents were billowing with steam and shouting could be heard from all over. Seoul is an intense city of both poor and rich; I currently found myself in what seemed like a chaotic Malaysian food district … and I was loving it.<br /><br />I finished eating at around 9 pm. I decided to walk back to my hotel as it was only a thirty-minute walk away. Like Japan, Korea is a pretty safe country with low crime levels however, unlike Japan, it didn't feel like it therefore, the walk back felt a little scary. Once back in my hotel, I took a long shower before proceeding into bed with my guidebook. I went to sleep wondering where I would be heading to tomorrow.<br /><br />Toodle Pip!Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-10355411849758523832017-01-02T01:02:00.001-08:002017-01-02T01:02:51.173-08:00Twix!Date: Tuesday 27th December 2016<br />Weather: Cold and cloudy but not too windy and no rain.<br />MP3 track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0">Gangnam Style</a> – PSY<br />
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Now, usually when I start a new trip the first paragraph usually explains how I got up at the crack-of-dawn to drive to somewhere or to get an early train; not this time. In fact, on this trip I didn't even set an alarm and therefore, I got up at 10 am with still time to spend. I got ready, checked my apartment one last time and headed to my local train station. The train would take me to Japan's sixth largest city – Sendai – where I would change onto a train bound for Sendai International Airport. My flight was a 4 pm and I arrived at 1:45 pm; fifteen minutes before checking-in even started.<br /><br />Using the words 'International Airport', makes Sendai's airport sound quite grand however, it's a tiny little place with only six or seven gates. There is a tiny food court and just one duty-free shop, making the whole place seem quite cute though, there was still everything you could possibly need (even if it is lacking in choice). I made it through security and immigration with thirty minutes spare before boarding. Today I would be heading to Incheon Airport; South Korea's main International Airport. It would take around two and a half hours to get to Incheon, and then who knows how long it would take to get to my actual destination; the city of Seoul.<br /><br />The flight was fine ... apart from the film I chose; wishing to be teleported back to my childhood, I made the error of selecting 'Independence Day 2', which was terrible and what is more horrifying is that the film ended with an incomplete storyline allowing for possible future expansions. I was also given a late lunch / early dinner meal pack which was nice, but so unexpected that I'd already eaten before boarding. Still, I'm not one to turn down free stuff, so I ate it anyway. Once eaten the pilot notified us that we were about to descended and we touched down just as Independence Day 2 finished.<br /><br />Incheon International Airport could not have been more different to Sendai's airport. It was huge; so-much-so that a train had to take me from my departing terminal to immigration and baggage reclaim. After an hour or so I'd made my way through the airport's security and was now heading towards the airport's underground train station. I purchased a 'one-trip ticket' which included a transfer at Seoul's main train station and allowed me to travel all the way to my hotel.<br /><br />Once I'd arrived at Seoul Station, I was almost immediately reminded that I was currently in a country still at war and that, the city I was in, was only 30kms from the front line. Within the station there were cabinets of gas masks, fire extinguishers and food supplies. Though most Koreans just walked past these cabinets, I found them extremely interesting (on later train journeys I would watch safety videos in regards to what to do if Seoul was attacked). Before changing trains I decided to buy an 'electronic rail card'. My guidebook had told me to buy one and fill it with money. This would then allow me to use Seoul's underground at will, without ever having to queue up at a ticket machine (the card also made each train journey cheaper and, once my holiday had finished, I could hand the card back and get a refund on all the money I hadn't used). Conveniently, there was a convenience store and so I went in and bought a card from a miserable looking Korean assistant before 'topping it up' with 30,000 Wong (about £20) which saw me through my trip. <br /><br />Were my eyes deceiving me? On the shelf … in the convenience store … I thought I saw …. Yes! I did see it! … A TWIX!! A lovely, lovely king-sized Twix for only 1,700 Wong (£1.14). Now; I am sure a lot of you are wondering what the big deal was. I mean, it was only a Twix. The fact is, is that you cannot buy a Twix for love nor money in Japan. It has been a good two years since I had eaten a Twix and now, hope was rising inside me … maybe Korea had Maltesers too! I waited in line behind a man using his credit card to buy a 90p pack of chewing gum, before I got served by the same miserable-looking assistant. I then went and boarded the train bound for my hotel. I spend the entire trip prodding my new Twix bar … making sure that it wasn't a dream.<br /><br />Five stops later and I had arrived at the closest stop to my hotel. The street was pretty quiet with only a handful of shops still open and a few small stalls selling street food. A few ominous-looking people were out walking around and I over-heard my first Korean conversations which sounded like an argument. I made it to my hotel at 9 pm; two-and-a-half hours after I'd landed. I quickly went up to my room where I unpacked and organised my stuff for the days ahead. The price of my room was a little high however, my room had three amazing features. Firstly, it was lovely and warm, secondly there was a huge bed which looked extremely comfortable but, the best bit of all, was that the bathroom had a rain shower … heaven.<br /><br />I left my hotel thirty minutes after entering it. I went across the street to Seoul's biggest market which, my guidebook stated, operated twenty-four hours a day. Sadly my guidebook also stated that only parts of it were open late at night and those parts didn't look very welcoming. I was hungry, and there were food stalls with middle-aged Korean women heckling me to try their produce however, I wasn't feeling that adventurous just yet. In the end, I opted for a small restaurant close to my hotel which seemed to be open all hours. They had a handy picture menu however, just like the convenience store assistant, neither the waitress nor the cook smiled or even looked remotely happy to see me. I therefore apologised for giving them money and eat my red-hot soup as quickly as possible. Now you may be thinking that Indian or Pakistani food is spicy; seriously, it is not a patch on Korean food. As I ate mouthful after mouthful I was amazed how this concoction had not burned it's way through the bowl it was served in, through the table and through the floor. I ate as much as I could before apologising for reasons unknown and quickly left the restaurant wishing the other diners good luck. I went back to my hotel to have a lovely hot shower and climbed into my glorious bed.<br /><br />So my first day had all gone well through I feel as though – due to not having any local knowledge – that I'd wasted time (the hotel's receptionist was surprised that I'd taken the airport underground train here and not the bus as the bus was quicker). With my rail card in hand and 'topped up', I felt ready to rectify the situation tomorrow.<br /><br />Toodle Pip!Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-8668367116457054942016-08-21T04:01:00.000-07:002016-08-21T04:01:00.701-07:00The big push
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Saturday 20<sup>th</sup> and Sunday 21<sup>st</sup> August 2016</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather: Beautiful for both days … still too hot though</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3 track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4vIW_p66fc">Breathe</a> - Monkey Majik</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>FACT FILE</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Number of days:</b> 10</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Total Kilometres driven:</b> 3,466 <i>(2,153 miles)</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Total petrol cost:</b> 22,942 Yen <i>(£175)</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Total Highway charges – 2 bridges and 2 tunnels:</b> 7,920 Yen <i>(£60.43)</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Total spent on holiday: 118,000 Yen <i>(£900)</i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Due to not a lot happening, I've decided to put both Saturday and Sunday together as one blog post. As a quick summary; on Saturday I travelled from Takamatsu over the bridge - just to the west of Takamatsu - to Okayama. From there I turned east and into Himeji. From then on I went north until I hit the northern coastline, when I turned and headed east again. I skipped under Fukui and took the same road I'd come in on – the 158 – all the way to Matsumoto. From there it was just a short trip across some mountains to my over-night stop of Ueda. On Sunday I went east and crossed even more mountains before taking the '17' all the way north to the '252', which took me over even more mountains and into Aizu-Wakamatsu. From there I crossed over my final mountain range before driving around Fukushima and ending up in Sendai – my home – at around 3pm Sunday afternoon. The below will add flavour to that journey.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Saturday 20</b><sup><b>th</b></sup>: I slept 'okay' last night. The bed was comfortable enough and I had exhausted myself with my days excursion to Nao-Shima. Therefore the only thing keeping me awake were my noisy neighbours. True the time was only 8pm however, I got out of bed and opened my door to see some of them chatting in, I think, Chinese. They said sorry. I could still hear them during the night until 1am – when they seemed to have gone to bed – however, it now wasn't loud enough to disturb my slumber.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I woke up at 1am and got ready as quietly as possible. Due to having packed the night before, I found myself in my car and ready for the off at 1:50am. I proceeded out of Takamatsu as fast as possible however, traffic lights still plagued my journey.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I made it to the bridge crossing around forty minutes later. It was a shame I couldn't see anything however, the bridge itself was all lit up and I did enjoy that. I also felt that it was worth it and now, having arrived on Honshu's southern coastline at 3am <i>(though £20 less due to the bridge's charges)</i>, I felt that I could risk travelling along Japan's congested southern coastline until I hit Himeji. My previous plan had been to leave Takamatsu at a 'normal' time and, once across the bridge, head north to Tottori as fast as possible however, with very few roads heading east from Tottori, I felt that going along the bottom of Honshu to Himeji could save me as much as three hours!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I could tell that the '2', at any normal hour, would be jammed solid of traffic. This wasn't a normal hour. I flew along it, all the way to Himeji where I saw a dark silhouette of the castle as I drove past. I then headed north – stopping for a little bit of fuel – relieved that my gamble had paid off; I'd left the southern shores whilst it was still night.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After heading north for a while I then had to cut east. I choose the '412' as my 'eastern road', as it looked like a normal road which was used daily. Not long after I'd turned onto this road did I realised that this road hadn't been used for quite some time. It would appear that, to use this road, I had to help cut back the bushes and long grasses which were trying to smother it. What was worse was that the road wound it's way up a mountainside and had no protective barriers from the drops. I was so glad that it was now light as, if I'd driven along this road at night, things could have been a lot worse. I concentrated hard as I pleaded for the road to end … I hardly remember blinking.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once off the '412' I met up with the '153' which I'd used just less than a week ago to get to Shikoku. This took me all the way to the coast where I then headed east along the '27'. Unbelievably I found myself sixty kilometres south of Fukui at 10am … only eight hours after I'd set off <i>(going from Fukui to Shikoku took ten hours … and that was a shorter route)</i>. I stopped for lunch before getting on my way again.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once again I fell foul of trying to get over / around Japan's central mountains in order to get onto the right road which would take me to Matsumoto <i>(a city near my night-stop)</i>. It took an hour or two just to get myself aligned so that, at midday, I finally found myself joining the '158' which would take me all the way to Matsumoto<i>. </i>This is the road I'd used to get to Fukui and I remembered what I'd learnt from that previous journey. For example, I did not drive through the centre of Takayama – though I did get lost trying to find the by-pass <i>(I hate cities!!!). </i>By 2pm I'd past Takayama and things were going well; I was only eight kilometres from Matsumoto and my speed was looking good … that was until I hit Kamikochi. Kamikochi is a beautiful national park – high in the mountains - which I've visited before <i>(check out my blog)</i>. Unfortunately, I'd managed to drive past the park at the same time as everyone else was trying to leave. Scores of coaches, buses, mini buses and cars were all trying to work their way along the '158' – a single lane mountainous road – towards Matsumoto. The views were extremely beautiful however, nothing could lighten my spirits … my speed had decreased to thirty kilometres an hour.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I finally arrived on the outskirts of Matsumoto at 4:00pm … the time I'd wanted to arrive at my hotel in Ueda. Sadly, the town of Ueda was still forty kilometres east of Matsumoto: i.e. on the opposite side of Matsumoto to where I was. This meant that I had to drive through the city itself, as there was no by-pass. Time ticket away.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">By 5pm I'd left the city of Matsumoto and was trying to reach Ueda as quickly as possible. You see, my plan was to get to Ueda at 4pm having filled up my car and having eaten tea. I could then write this blog and, hopefully, go to sleep at 6pm. It was 6pm – after having travelled over ANOTHER mountain range – by the time I hit the outskirts of the city. Yes, city! When I looked at the map, I thought Ueda was a small town but no, looking at the city as I came down from the mountains showed it's true extent. I filled up my car and ate dinner quickly. I then discovered that Ueda's road system was stupid, and that the whole city is practically grid-locked each and every night. Finally, heroically I made it to my hotel … to discover that there car park was full. I then drove to their 'secondary car park' and walked back to the hotel. In my room, I only took out things I needed from my bags before cleaning my teeth and crashing on my bed at 8pm. I was going to get up at 1am again however, due to getting into bed two hours later than I'd planned, I decided to set my alarm for 2:30am. Anyway … tomorrow is a Sunday … should be dead on the roads.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Sunday 21<sup>st</sup>: </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">DO THE JAPANESE EVER SLEEP! I got up at 2:30am and left one hour later. Within twenty minutes I found myself stuck behind a lorry going up a mountain road. Thankfully, he let me by quickly. I didn't find another lorry going in the same direction as I however, hundreds – including a tractor – were going in the opposite direction.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I'm not sure how high Ueda is from sea level but, the road kept going down for mile after mile. I checked my map just to make sure that the next 'place of interest' wasn't the centre of the Earth. Finally, with dawn approaching, I made it into a valley where I picked up the '17'. I know that there are many wonderful sites in the world however, driving through Japan's mountainous heartland when dawn breaks has to be up there. I know I haven't mentioned it a lot but, I hope as you read this blog, your mental image is of me driving down some windy road with beautiful mountains all around me because … that is exactly how it was.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I took the '17' north and put my foot to the floor. The '17' was one of the main roads to – and from – Tokyo therefore, I wanted to get off it before 7am / 8am. By 8am I'd just made it to the '252'. This road would take me across yet another mountain range to Aizu-Wakamatsu. This is my favourite road in Japan because, unlike a lot of mountainous roads in Japan, it doesn't skip the top of the mountain by having a large tunnel half way up it. At 9am I found myself out of my car, on the top of this mountain, looking down at a valley of lakes with beautiful small wooded islands. The view was exceptional and, I wasn't the only one who thought so; a Japanese gentleman and I passed the time of day as we just looked at the valley below us.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I made it to Aizu-Wakamatsu at 10am. I was starving and ready for lunch however, none of the restaurants were open yet. I therefore had no choice; I opened my last packet of 'Animal shortbread biscuits' and drove out of Aizu. I drove up another beautiful mountain range before coming down onto the outskirts of the city of Fukushima. I skipped around it and, once on the '4' </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">(the main road to home) </span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">I stopped for the final time for lunch.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The drive from Northern Fukushima to Sendai occurred without incident. Last time I drove down this road, I was going to Fukui and it was pitch black. It was nice to be able to see where I'd travelled.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I finally arrived home at 3pm. Once I'd parked my car, a flurry of activity occurred with me unpacking bags, doing laundry and repacking bags </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">(I am off to a friends house tomorrow for two nights). </span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">So there it is; my trip to Shikoku. Yes, it was hot. Yes, there was a tone of driving and yes, the traffic and traffic lights were unbearable at points however, I would give anything to be back there right now. I did manage to see everything I wanted to however, it would have been nice to have a few more days just to enjoy it ... and to be able to slow down a little.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In December I have, what is possibly, my final holiday in Japan. I would like to see Western Honshu </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">(around Hiroshima)</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> but whether I will, I am not sure. The drive is a little bit less than to Shikoku – only by three or four hours – however, it will be during winter and so a lot of the mountainous roads will be closed </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">(meaning that I … AND EVERYONE ELSE … will have to drive along the coast). </span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">I could put more night-stops in … I could use the highway … I drive through the night. At the moment I'm not sure; I need to relax from this trip, take a breathe, and then get my calculator out and work out which method of getting to Western-Honshu would be the best for me.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Toodle Pip!</span></span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-85203569509861642592016-08-19T01:38:00.002-07:002016-08-19T01:38:45.735-07:00Modern Art
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Friday 19<sup>th</sup> August 2016</span></span>
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Sunny and very, very hot.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6AH582yH6s">Hot in the city</a> - Billy Idol</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH29qZoBvR_61udy8kTNQWGx-WuveRYWQwKY2DBe2T-_VyQWB1gVVc406vvhCnFua5bHKs-XN1Td25pKpFTBxOO-iLS3zmXxFwfeTKVjJ3ijUpb3yFBpSs5ZeMgqyV1Ps9Eim2ERULWnwf/s1600/DSC_1050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH29qZoBvR_61udy8kTNQWGx-WuveRYWQwKY2DBe2T-_VyQWB1gVVc406vvhCnFua5bHKs-XN1Td25pKpFTBxOO-iLS3zmXxFwfeTKVjJ3ijUpb3yFBpSs5ZeMgqyV1Ps9Eim2ERULWnwf/s320/DSC_1050.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Due
to wanting an early night tonight, I prised myself out of bed at
5:00am. Though this hotel is – and feels - very cheap, I actually
slept really well. Once I'd got ready I finally left the hotel at
around 6:45am.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
sun was still young, making a huge difference to the temperature. As
I walked towards the centre of town, it was positively cold by
Shikoku's standards. Not wanting to waste the cool weather, I put on
hold breakfast in order to look around Takamatsu's old castle. Though
there is very little left – due to destruction during the Meji era
and World War 2 bombing raids – the outer walls did enclose a very
nice garden which kept me entertained until the temperature rose. The
garden was similar to the one I saw yesterday; beautifully pruned
trees dotted around either a building of some sort, or a bit of
water. As I roamed around I did see quite a few old men doing, what
must be, their part-time job to top-up their pension. I could think
of worse ways to earn a living and, maybe when I'm old, I might
follow suit as it looked like a lot of fun.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">With
the sun now high in the sky I went to Mr Donuts for breakfast and my
first two drinks of the day. I then bought two bottles of water
before heading to the ferry terminal.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Today
I wanted to visit Nao-shima – an island famous for it's 'modern
art' – and Megi-jima – an island famous for a Japanese child's
fairy story <i>(Momotaro) </i>which I know very well through my job.
As I arrived at the ferry terminal I watched the ferry to Nao-shima
depart. Once inside the ferry terminal, I discovered that the next
ferry wasn't for another two hours however, there was a 'speed boat'
option which left in forty-five minutes and took half the time to get
to Nao-shima; this left from another pier. I also enquired about
Megi-jima and was told that the other pier dealt with boats to that
island too. I thanked the lady who'd been helping me and walked over
to the other pier.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">No
matter how hard I studied the timetables, there just didn't seem to
be a way I could see both Nao-shima and Megi-jima AND get back to my
hotel at a reasonable time. The reason for this is because both
islands only have between three and five boat journeys per day. What
is also annoying is that, even though the islands are on the same
route <i>(you have to go around Megi-jima to get to Nao-jima), </i>the
same boat doesn't serve both islands. I therefore decided to buy a
'speed boat' ticket to Nao-shima. Out of the two, this was the more
important island and, at least, I could see Megi-jima from the boat.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
ride was very, very beautiful. The water between Shikoku and Japan's
main island is littered with small islands. Going through these was
an absolute pleasure. I paid particular attention to Megi-jima and,
before I knew it, I'd arrived in Nao-shima.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Getting
the 'speed boat' actually had it's benefits over the ferry. The speed
boat dropped me off on the opposite side of the island to the ferry
terminal. This side had the biggest village – Homura - and the most
'modern art'. I could look around here for an hour, before getting
the shuttle bus to the village – Miyanoura - where the ferry
terminal is located. I would then have forty minutes to look around
Miyanoura before getting the 11:30am ferry back to Takamatsu. In any
other temperature I wouldn't have bothered with the shuttle bus; the
island is so small you can walk across it in twenty minutes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Homura
is home to the 'Art House Project'; a large collection of houses with
modern art in them. To see them individually cost £3 each or, a full
pass could be bought for £12. Not being a huge 'modern art fan', -
and lacking in time - I decided to just have a look at one piece.
This piece consisted of a temple at the top – which was free to see
– and a cave below <i>(which you had to paid to enter). </i>Once in
the cave all I saw was the same line of steps I'd seen coming from
the temple above. These steps were made of glass letting in some
light into the cave. Through this piece I could instantly see what
the artist was trying to achieve. He was trying to con innocent
people out of £3! I mean … it was just a set of steps! Sure they
were in glass however, as human beings, we've had glass for a pretty
long time. What really annoys me about this 'modern art' stuff is
that, if I made an exact replica of these 'glass steps', it wouldn't
be called 'art'. This piece put me off seeing any others.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
I'd finished photographing Homura, I took the shuttle bus to
Miyanoura. I bought a ferry ticket back to Takamatsu and looked
around the small village. I saw a giant red pumpkin with holes it <i>(no
idea what that is suppose to 'express')</i> before heading back to
the air-conditioned ferry terminal. Once back inside the terminal I
had a very difficult choice to make. There were two ice creams for
sale; both were vanilla however, one was £1.50 more than the other.
What made this ice cream special was that the ice cream was suppose
to be smoother and the cone was suppose to be nicer. I'd seen it
advertised around Japan before however, I'd never bought it due to
the price. This time I went for it and the ice cream was really
really good however, the cone was just a little too sweet for me. By
the time I'd polished off my ice cream - whilst watching a bit of the
Olympics – my ferry arrived.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
sat next to a window. My t-shirt was soaked through with sweat and
so, it was nice to sit within an air-conditioned area whilst looking
out at the beautiful islands which lay before me and, occasionally,
watching the Olympics on the TV.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It
took an hour for the ferry to dock in Takamatsu. My t-shirt had
thoroughly dried out by then however, it didn't take it long to be
all wet again. The time was 12:45pm and I was a little at a loss for
what to do. I wanted to eat dinner around 3pm therefore, I had two
hours and fifteen minutes to kill. I decided to look around the city
of Takamatsu via it's massive covered shopping arcade. I stood,
peering into the shops which had the best air-conditioning.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">At
2pm I'd gotten board of walking around. I wanted to dry my t-shirt
before heading to a restaurant for dinner. I therefore went into a
small shopping centre where I found a few chairs and tables. I was
soon joined by an old couple however, I didn't talk to them much as I
was reading my guidebook to make sure that I hadn't missed anything
important – I hadn't. Finally at 3pm I said goodbye to the old
couple and went to Ootoya for a lovely large meal. Once eaten I
picked up tomorrow's breakfast, and supplies, from a convenience
store. I made it back to my hotel where I had a lovely cold shower,
relaxed, and went to sleep around 6pm.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Tomorrow
I will get up at 1am and hopefully leave Shikoku by 3am. I have
thoroughly enjoyed my time on this small island and I wished that I'd
had a couple more days <i>(One more here, one in Tokushima and
another in Kochi)</i>. Would I recommend people to come to Shikoku?
Definitely however, if you are not bothered about seeing Tokushima's
summer festival – it was good – then I would certainly recommend
waiting for cooler climates <i>(November time)</i>. I would also
recommend crossing the road bridges to Shikoku during daylight hours
as the view is beautiful. Sadly I won't see much on my return journey
– I saw a lot of my journey coming here - but the quieter roads are
just too much to give up for a good view.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-18111290727368507852016-08-18T13:30:00.000-07:002016-08-18T13:30:50.594-07:00Highlight found
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Thursday 18<sup>th</sup> August 2016</span></span>
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Sunny and very, very hot though, towards the mountains at least,
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN_utGk0oGU&list=PLT-52G6XpYtk4EsGYzkOjVp-F-E47Anzi&index=21">Fly</a> - Monkey Majic</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It
was around 2am when I gave up with the pillow that my bed came with.
It was as flat, and as hard, as a piece of cardboard. I got up and
discovered that there was a nice plumply one in one of my room's
wardrobes. That was better.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
got out of bed at 6am and proceeded to get ready. Due to having no
hotel breakfast, I had bought a selection of pastries from the local
convenience store the night before. True, they were a little hard
however … they did the trick. My car was parked a little way from
my hotel therefore, I drove it back to the hotel to pick up my
luggage. I finally set off at around 8am however, my first sight for
the day was only fifteen minutes away.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dogo
Onsen is the oldest onsen in Japan. It was a beautiful old wooden
building and, a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be. Early
bathers were going in and out however, I was just content on taking
photos of it. I then proceeded around the area of Dogo in a clockwise
direction, taking in the local shopping arcade. Luckily for me, a
souvenir stall had opened early and yes, they sold postcards. I
bought a pack before moving on to check out a couple of other, much
newer Onsen and a pretty little shrine. The whole area was completed
in around forty minutes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
was thirty minutes out of Matsuyama when I turned off the main road
heading to Takamatsu. I stopped suddenly and opened my guidebook.
Yes, I had forgotten a site very close to Dogo. You see, Dogo had a
shrine and the site that I missed was a temple <i>(shrine, temple …
what's the real difference?) </i>therefore, I thought that I'd seen
it. I debated on whether to turn around and go back … this mistake
would cost me an hour … I decided to turn around as my guidebook
had given the temple a good write up.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ishite
temple was a complete let down. Sure it was unique for having a long
tunnel drilled into the mountainside however, it was really, really
dark. I couldn't see many of the <i>jizo </i>statues that were in
there. Outside of the tunnels were a few statues that I hadn't seen
in other temples before however, it was nothing major. I left the
site fifteen minutes after entering feeling totally conned.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">An
hour and twenty minutes later I passed the point I had turned around
at. The time was around 11am and I was heading to my first, and only,
national park of the holiday. Ishizuchi Quasi National park houses
Shikoku's largest mountain – Ishizuchi-san <i>(1982m). </i>There
was a cable car, followed by a rope-way, which would take you close
to the summit of Ishizuchi-san however, I didn't really have the time
and, as I approached the mountains, the cloud density increased. I
followed the signs to the car cable station, which took me on a road
around a lovely lake and went through a beautiful gorge. From now on,
every time I think of gorge's and steep valleys, I shall think of
Shikoku as the inner part of the island is full of them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
went along the winding path stopped every few miles to take another
photo of the beautiful gorge which lay before me. It was a stunning
drive and the dense clouds above me only added to the atmosphere.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It
was 1pm by the time I hit the main road back to Takamatsu. The
traffic was going at a snails pace – which was good at one point as
there was a police speed check – and it soon dawned on me that, I
might not have time to see my final attraction for today. Within
Takamatsu is a lovely park called Ritsurin-koen. I wanted to go today
as it was a fair walk out of Takamatsu's city centre. My guidebook
said that 'opening times vary however, it should be open until 5pm'.
I wanted at least an hour to look around the park therefore, I had
over 140 kilometres to do in three hours. Where I could, I put my
foot down.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">In
a moment of pure genius, I said goodbye to the '11' – which was the
main road to Takamatsu however, it also went past every rabbit hutch
<i>(and they all had their own set of traffic lights) </i>along the
way – and turned onto the '372'. This led onto the '32' and I'd
used this road before. I therefore knew that it was dual carriage way
and that progress should be better. I drove along at full speed and
suddenly the kilometres came tumbling down.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
made it to the park at around 4:15pm only to be greeted by a man who
said that, today, the park was open until 7pm. I was slightly annoyed
with the need to rush – I skipped lunch – however, I was ever so
glad that I would have as much time as I wished to see the park.
Another good thing was that, due to being late, a lot of people had
gone and the sun was going down making it a lot cooler. I applied sun
cream and ventured forth.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ritsurin-koen
is over 750,000 square meters and took over a hundred years to
complete. At the entrance gate I was given a walking guide which
split the garden into two circuits; the old part of the garden and
the new part. The lady advised me to follow the 'red route' through
the old garden first and, if time, do the blue route. I thanked her
before walking to the start of the red route.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Now,
I don't normally like following specific routes however, this route
encompassed the whole garden really well. The old garden was cover
with beautiful bonzai, maple and many other kinds of trees. It's main
feature was a small lake with a tea house next to it. Using the
Japanese technique of 'borrowing scenery', the whole garden backed
onto a beautiful mountain range. From one of the purpose built
viewing hills, the whole garden was just wonderful. The way the lake
flowed around small wooded islands was a joy to behold. In fact, I
enjoyed it so much that, once I'd completed the 'blue route', I went
around the 'red route' for a second time however, this time, without
using my camera.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
had spent two hours in the park and I was famished. I filled my car
ready for the 'big push' home in two days time and went to a family
restaurant where I ordered the 'onion tower'- two hamburgers with a
tower of onion rings on top. I also ordered a side consisting of a
soup and a salad plus unlimited soft drinks. Once I'd consumed that I
waddled out of the restaurant and back into my car. It was only a
short drive to my hotel – the same one I'd used after the festival
four nights ago <i>(only four nights ago!)</i>. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">You
know when you've got that feeling that you may have gone too cheap …
well I was having it now. Still it was too late. I took everything to
my tiny room and repacked my suitcase so that it carried all of my
presents along with all of my clothes. I turned on the useless
air-conditioner and tried to relax.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So
tomorrow I am going to try and take a boat to one of the smaller
islands near to Takamatsu – Nao shima; very famous. I want it to be
a short day as I want to get to sleep at around 6pm so that I can get
up early on Saturday and start the big trek home. You travel so much
quicker at night in Japan!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-40760409602278997242016-08-17T05:11:00.002-07:002016-08-17T05:11:44.027-07:00One set of post cards, two old men and finally, two-and-half t-shirts
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Wednesday 17<sup>th</sup> August 2016</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Sunny and very, very hot though, a least there was a bit of cloud
cover.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Os9GyR0jTY&list=PLT-52G6XpYtk4EsGYzkOjVp-F-E47Anzi&index=2">Story</a> - Monkey Majic</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh59eCvwT913cNQRJTOt-V67f3phSaTy8twOv8kMP9pahh6V6KvQVHGSTdqK85LfuEiZ163kM4QUqKLkWPV5K2x_B_jE1mO-QcJKaacmsxOm_nOWQLsRIGBe9k5Dg-8VJ-uBywl9IcQiRFa/s1600/DSC_0788.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh59eCvwT913cNQRJTOt-V67f3phSaTy8twOv8kMP9pahh6V6KvQVHGSTdqK85LfuEiZ163kM4QUqKLkWPV5K2x_B_jE1mO-QcJKaacmsxOm_nOWQLsRIGBe9k5Dg-8VJ-uBywl9IcQiRFa/s320/DSC_0788.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Though
my breakfast did indeed look well presented, there didn't seem to be
a lot there. Plus, I'd also received an omelet due to having no
choice. I there and then decided that I preferred a buffet style
breakfast set-up to a fixed menu. Once I'd finished everything I
could eat, I departed the restaurant, grabbed my bags and handed in
my room key. As I approached my car I noticed a rather brightly
coloured caterpillar trying to climb up one of my tires with little
success. As I left the car park I gingerly rolled out of my parking
space as to not kill said caterpillar.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My
first stop for the day was a little town called Ozu. In fact my
guidebook had highly recommended two small towns – this one and
Uchiko – and Ozu I came to. I arrived at almost 9am and yet, the
sun was beating down. I parked close to the town's pretty little
castle and photographed it to death before walking along the river
bank to get to the western part of the town. Here I photographed two
old buildings and went down a small street with 'white-washed' walls.
With the flowers out it was very pretty indeed although, the street
was a little small.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">With
Ozu done in forty minutes I pressed onto Uchiko. My guidebook told me
that the 'sightseeing' part of town was close to the town hall
however, what I didn't know at the time, was that there were two town
halls as said town is spread along a large valley. I spent the first
twenty minutes driving down streets which I thought were 'okay'
however, the map in my guidebook did not correlate to what I was
seeing and I couldn't understand why my guidebook had given it such a
good write up. It wasn't until I stopped in the town hall that I
discovered that I was in the wrong park of town. I drove twenty
minutes or so to the other town hall and found a car park. Uchiko had
become rich through the production of wax. Many of the grand
buildings I was witnessing looked out of place in such a small town
<i>(reminded me of Omaru, New Zealand)</i>. I toured the streets
ending up in a refurbished Kabuki theatre. It was very interesting
indeed; made totally out of wood, I went under the stage to see how
the revolving floor worked.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
I'd looked around the theatre I proceeded back to my car. Before
getting there I drank a whole bottle of juice and photographed a
temple plus a reclining Buddha. The car was red hot and my t-shirt
was soaked through. I therefore turned the engine on and put the
air-conditioning onto maximum as I changed my t-shirt. I left Uchiko
at around midday, heading for Matsuyama. On the way I had two old
gentlemen flag me down to tell me about my rear-right tire. I hope
this isn't going to happen as frequently for the rest of my trip.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One
hour later I arrived within the city of Matsuyama. I was starting to
get hungry which, on this holiday, was very unlike me. I wondered if
it had to do with the amount of breakfast I consumed this morning …
or the heat? I found my, very posh, hotel and put my bags inside
before parking my car. On reception was a lovely lady who couldn't go
enough to help me. With her pigeon English she helped me sort out a
route to Matsuyama castle – the attraction for the day – and
where to look for something to eat. She also made me a member of the
'APA' – the hotel chain I am staying with – which allows me to
check-out one hour later for free amongst other things. Once I had
finished talking to her, I read my guidebook and formed a plan of
action for the day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
cannot begin to describe just how hot it is. I had only walked a
couple of paces from my hotel and I was sweating like a pig. The
thought of climbing up the mountain to Matsuyama castle was a
frightful one and I quickly decided that I would use the rope way no
matter the cost. Firstly however, there was a garden at the base of
the mountain opposite my hotel. It's name was Ninomaru Shiseki Teien
and even though I only spent 20 or so minutes in it, I was delighted
with my decision to pay the £1.50 entrance fee. It was a style of
garden which I had never seen before. It was a square which had been
carved up into gravel – or stone – rectangles. Some of these
rectangles had been flooded and it was all rather bizarre and yet, at
the same time, I loved it and it is certainly an idea I shall keep
for my own garden. The best thing was that you could go up a small
path and look down on the whole garden … It looked really cool.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
I'd seen the garden, I walked all the way around the base of the
mountain to the rope-way station. It cost £2.00 each way plus £4.00
to go into the castle. Being absolutely fed up with the ridiculous
heat my patience was non-existent and so I opted for the full
'round-trip' ticket … forgetting that I was planning on walking
down the mountain as the mountain path finished a lot closer to my
hotel than the rope way does.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
at the top I only had to climb ten or so steps before I made it into
the castle. It's a lot similar to a lot of other castles spread all
over Japan however, the view was spectacular. I was also glad to see
that, just like Himeji castle, a lot of thought had done into it's
defences with dead-ends, murder holes and optical illusions. The
castle wasn't as big as Hemiji castle however, it was larger than
Osaka castle. Due to the lack of exhibits inside, it took me around
thirty minutes to see all of the castle, before I left and ate an ice
cream.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">With
my second t-shirt of the day soaked through, I decided to head back
to my hotel to freshen up. Before doing so I stopped at a tourist
shop and was pleased as punch that I managed to get presents for
everyone who needed a present. It wasn't until I had reached the base
of the mountain that I remembered that I had forgotten to buying
postcards. So what? I hear you cry. Finding postcards in Japan is
very, very difficult … and they had some! I saw them and thought to
myself, “I need to get some of those” however, I must have
forgotten again before I went to the cashier. It was too late now; I
was close to my hotel and I certainly wasn't going to walk back up.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After
a shower and another change of clothes, I hit the town again with
only two things on my mind. Postcards and somewhere for dinner.
Matsuyama had been a very kind city to me so far – and I've enjoyed
it a lot; the park around the base of the castle is quite lovely –
however that kindness disappeared when I couldn't find a decent
restaurant and both of the book stores I went to hadn't even heard of
postcards … let alone have any. I went to McDonalds for tea and had
their biggest burger <i>(with pineapple … yum), </i>a snazzy drink
and an ice cream. Once again I felt that this lot probably wouldn't
keep me full all night and so I went into a convenience store to pick
up snacks for tonight and cakes for breakfast tomorrow as this hotel
doesn't have a breakfast meal option.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Speaking
of 'breakfasts at hotels'. You may have noticed that I have been
having a lot of my breakfasts at my hotels. I haven't really done
this before because I always felt that they were a little too
expensive. Now that I have tried it I have to say that, I think, my
mind has been changed. Sure, a hotel breakfast can cost around £7
here in Japan <i>(I can buy a breakfast for £2.50 at a store)
</i>however, you usually get a buffet where you can eat as much as
you want and the food is good. Fresh fruit, salad and fish has – I
believe – kept me going and feeling much more energetic than my
usual 'McDonald’s rubbish breakfast'. The only annoying thing is
that, most hotel breakfasts start at 6:30am and, if you want to beat
the traffic, 6:30am is when you ideally want to leave. I now have no
more hotel breakfasts; my last hotel comes with breakfast however, I
think that I'll be leaving before it is served.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Tomorrow
I am back off to Takamatsu.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-43854070543802515882016-08-16T04:02:00.000-07:002016-08-16T04:02:09.103-07:00cars, rivers and 'beach body ready'
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Tuesday 16<sup>th</sup> August 2016</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Sunny and very, very hot. It was 36 degrees today … AGAIN!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYF6o6moDUg">If</a> - Monkey Majik</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
breakfast buffet consisted of many different things, including a
fruit salad. Not being able to remember the last time I ate fruit, I
had two bowls of fruit plus a bit of meat, some vegetables and a
couple of pancakes. Once I'd had my fill, I went back to my room and
collected my bags. I left my hotel, and the city of Kochi, at 7:40am.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Today
I would be taking the '56' all the way south Nakamura. In Nakamura I
could continue along the '56' to Uwajima – my stop for the night;
or I could switch onto the '321' which would take me in a loop around
the most southern part of Shikoku. I decided there and then that I
would drive as far south as possible, even if it would add a further
ninety minutes onto my journey.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
out of Kochi, the '56' became bearable. Traffic died down and the
road hung so close to Shikoku's southern coastline that I had a sea
view all the way along it. I did wonder that, if you drew a
perpendicular line from Kochi south, what landmass would you hit
first? … I couldn't think of a single thing until the south pole <i>(I
think Australia is too far west to come into contact). </i></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">All
was well in my world; the sun was beating down and there had been a
huge accident on a plateau of a large mountain range <i>(the plateau
was beautiful; rice fields walled in by forested mountain peaks)</i>
however, I had air-conditioning and the queue of traffic heading
south was tiny <i>(the queue of cars heading north past the accident
was massive)</i>. Along the coast I made a few stops to take some
photos of the coastline. One such stop saw me walk onto a beautiful
sandy beach. It would have been lovely, if it wasn't for all of the
half-naked 'surfer dudes' with their, well tanned bodies, muscular
arms and long locks of hair. They were riding the waves without fear.
I quickly looked into my t-shirt and what I found wasn't 'beach body
ready'. I wanted to build a sandcastle however, I didn't feel very
welcome. I therefore took a few photos before retiring to my car to
enjoy a couple of pieces of 'animal shaped shortbread'.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
finally made it to Nakamura where, though the weather was hot, I was
feeling good about life. Whilst waiting at a set of red traffic
lights, an old man knocked on my window. I couldn't tell what he was
saying so we both pulled over. Now, he was speaking pretty quickly
and his accent was quite thick; the only words I caught were 'scary'
and 'tire'. What he was trying to say to me I didn't know, but it
sounded like the below...</span></span></div>
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“<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">...
GET OUT OF THE CAR NOW! SAVE YOURSELF! QUICK, QUICK COMMANDO ROLL
AWAY … YOUR CAR IS ON THE VERGE OF EXPLODING AND YOU WILL DIE …
NOT A QUICK DEATH EITHER BUT A HORRIBLE SLOW PAINFUL ONE. DON'T DRIVE
YOUR CAR A KILOMETER MORE!!!...”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This
put me on edge somewhat. We did drive on – I was following him to a
Nissan garage as my car is a Nissan – and as we did, I looked out
of my right side-mirror and I could see my rear-right wheel wobbling
a bit. Even with the air conditioning on I was sweating … I
couldn't be further from home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
local Nissan garage was shut. Once parked up I tried to move the
wheel myself but it seemed sturdy enough. I told the guy that I had
to drive another 70 kilometres to my overnight stop of Uwajima. He
cringed and told me to drive very, very slowly. As there was little
more that could be done here I thanked the old gentleman and gingerly
went on my way. It was here that I decided to forgo my trip to the
most southern point of the island and instead, try to get to my
over-night stop as quickly as possible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Over
the course of the trip to Uwajima my confidence in the car started at
rock bottom, but ended back at it's previous level. I spent as much
time looking at my rear-right tire as I did looking out in front of
me. I checked the total mileage on the car and it was very low.
Finally I made another stop to take a photograph of the beautiful
coastal line before me, and to get on my hands and knees to look at
the rear of my car. Now 'Mat's rule of car logic' dictates that, if
the underneath of the right-hand wheel looks the same as the
underneath of the left-hand wheel, then all is good … and it did.
On closer inspection, the rear-left hand tire's plastic hub cap
wasn't properly fixed all the way around the tire. Part of it was
slightly away from the tire and I wondered if this is what gave the
illusion of the tire wobbling about.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
got to Uwajima without incident and found my hotel. I called my local
branch office with what had happened. They in turn passed the query
onto the head office which meant – being a head office – a reply
wouldn't be coming soon. Feeling confident that the tire was fine, I
dropped my bags off at my hotel and pressed on into the mountains. I
wanted to see the Shimanto-gawa; the longest river in Shikoku.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
drive through the mountains was lovely and it wasn't long before I
was following the Shimanto up stream. Once again stopping places were
limited however, I managed to get a few photos here and there. Once
I'd got enough photos I returned to Uwajima. I didn't go to my hotel;
instead I headed north to a small town called Uwa-cho. There was the
'Museum of Ehime prefecture's History and Culture' there which, my
guidebook had praised highly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">On
the way – and two hours after I'd raised the incident – my
company's head office called back. A lovely lady asked me to go to
any petrol station and get them to check my car. I did as I was told
to discover that all tires – not just the rear-right – were …
completely fine. Even the air pressure hadn't gone down. Glad that
I'd checked, I paid the main the £8 fee required however, I kept
hold the receipt as, once home, I can claim the amount back off my
insurance.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
drove to the museum at my usual speed and arrived at around 4pm. The
museum closed at 5:30pm however, I still paid to go in. Having been
in the car all day, I wanted to walk around somewhere which wasn't
boiling hot. Besides, the displays – which went through the ages of
Ehime's history – had no English translations therefore, it only
took me forty minutes to wander around. I did enjoy it a lot; there
were loads and loads of models plus life-size reconstructions of
ancient housing to look around. My favourite model showed an ancient
settlement with a huge wall protecting the entire village. It was a
lovely way to spend the later part of the afternoon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">On
the way back to my hotel I stopped for dinner at 5pm. Having had
nothing to eat since breakfast, I was famished however, I was also
worried that my tonkatsu meal <i>(fried pork) </i>wouldn't keep me
full all evening. After eating I therefore went to 'Mr Donuts' <i>(First
time this trip) </i>for an evening snack.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
back at my hotel I checked in, chose the 'western style' breakfast
for tomorrow <i>(no buffet then) </i>and went to my room to relax and
to go to sleep. Tomorrow I want to have breakfast at 6:30am so that I
can hit the road by 7:30am. I have two small towns to see - Uchiko
and Ozu – before staying the night in one of Shikoku's largest
cities; Matsuyama. Here I would like to see the castle and possibly
do a bit of shopping. Again there is quite a lot to do however, I'm
only a ninety minute drive from the city of Matsuyama so it's all
quite possible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-58106344812685825122016-08-15T05:21:00.000-07:002016-08-15T05:21:47.792-07:00Many things to see
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Monday 15<sup>th</sup> August 2016</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Sunny and very, very hot. It was 36 degrees today!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV1hXHWdZ_I">Delicious</a> - Monkey Majic</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
was up at 6:30am and felt quite refreshed. There was no buffet
breakfast with this hotel and so, once ready, I headed out into
Takamatsu to the McDonalds I'd past last night. Once a pancake
breakfast had been consumed, I got back into my car and proceeded to
my first attraction for the day; Zentsu-ji … a temple which, though
it didn't look that far on the map, seemed to take forever due to
traffic lights.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A
very 'happy chappy' greeted me at the car park to the temple. Armed
with a sheet of six English sentences he managed to take £1.50 off
me as a parking fee, told me that the temple was on my left and that
I needed to park my car on the right. After doing as I was told, I
applied sun cream before heading into the temple complex which,
thankfully, wasn't that big and was free. Now you may be asking why I
was so happy that it wasn't that big. The answer is, is that this was
the first of four planned sites I wanted to see today. They were
spread from the north of the island <i>(which is where Zentsu-ji is)
</i>all the way to my over-night stop in the south of the island <i>(the
city of Kochi)</i>. I didn't have much time and so I was very happy
when I managed to see all of the temples, the pagoda and the cool
semi-circle bridge in around twenty minutes. What's more, this temple
was all on a 'ground level' meaning that it was a delight to walk
around on a day like today. I left the site twenty minutes after
entering. The only thing worth noting was that this temple had rows
of stone statue monks in very strange poses.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My
next site for the day was only five kilometres south from Zentsu-ji.
This was a temple site called Kompira-san, located in the village of
Kotohira. 'San' means mountain and, you know what that means. This
temple complex is spread up a mountain connected by over a 1,000
stone steps. I parked my car in front of some old woman's house – I
fear illegally; however she asked for a £2 parking fee and seemed
happy enough – and walked towards the start of the climb. I had
brought only my camera and a Thermos filled with ice cold water.
Given that it was 34 degrees, I was surprised at the sheer number of
people willing to take on this beast. I decided that the best way to
tackle this mountain was to not look up and to keep a steady pace. I
first of all had to get past a quite substantial row of souvenir
stalls and food stores which, it would appear, had grabbed a lot of
the 'would-be climber's' attention.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A
woman selling cold drinks was telling everyone within ear shot that
they were halfway to the top of the temple and … well done. I
collapsed and sat on a stone step gasping for breath. I was surprised
that I was already half-way up however, the heat and humidity had
really affected me; my shirt and cap were completely ruined. I drank
some of the delicious, sweet iced water I'd carried up with me and
continued on. Soon I found myself at the first temple; I can't tell
you much about it as all I wanted – at that moment in time – was
for the climb to end. I drank more water and took a few quick photos
before heading on.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">When
I made it to the next level I took in even more water. It was as I
was about to take my third cup when my 1.5 liter Thermos ran out. I
couldn't believe it; 1.5 liters in twenty minutes … and it felt as
though all I'd done is pour it onto my back. I asked a Japanese lady
if this was the top. She said it was for the temple however, there
was a shrine a little further on. With no intention of coming back
here I went on-wards, towards the shrine.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
shrine was no different to any other I'd seen throughout Japan. There
were yet even more steps <i>(500!) </i>to, I think, the summit of the
mountain however, I had had enough. My shirt felt as if I'd just put
it on after being washed - but before being tumble dried. I turned
around and headed back the way I'd come. The view over the city of
Kotohira was superb and so I took a few photos of that before
descending.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">On
my way down I bought a bottle of pop <i>(drank it all within a
minute), </i>an ice cream and my souvenir for this trip … another
Kokeshi doll <i>(quite expensive). </i>I was absolutely shattered and
this wasn't the first time that I reminisced grudgingly back to my
backpacking days. I must have been so fit back then; carrying that
huge bag for miles … where has it all gone wrong?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Finally,
heroically, I made it back to the car. I bought ANOTHER bottle of
pop, turned the air-conditioning up and rode off into the distance.
The time was 12pm and I still hadn't made it to the main attraction
of the day. That lay much further south towards Kochi. It's name …
the Oboke Gorge.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It
took an hour to get to the gorge by car and yet, my t-shirt still
hadn't dried. I found a car park, which gave spectacular views of the
gorge below, and once parked up, I showed the world my wonderful
six-pack of muscles before changing into a new t-shirt and
photographing the hell out of the gorge. The gorge was amazing; the
side were so sharp. It was as if a huge knife had taken a wedge out
of a block of cheese. Below was a fairly fast flowing river with
hundreds of white water rafting groups having fun. The only problem –
for me anyway – in regards to the gorge was, finding places to stop
to take photos. You see, the gorge ran along a main road therefore, I
couldn't just stop 'willy-nilly'. I struck gold with the my first two
photograph spots however, a few other places did not give me much
return for my investment. I would drive along and find a good view
however, I then could not find a place where I could park safely.
This meant that, though only doing twenty miles an hour, I made it
through the gorge pretty quickly. Please note that, because I wanted
to drive extremely slowly – to take in the view – I therefore
pulled over countless times to allow traffic to pass. Not one car
thanked me. It would also appear that no one else did the same. I
think that I have found the region of Japan with the worst drivers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
out of the gorge it didn't take me long to enter the city of Kochi.
Once there I found my hotel and went up to my room. The time was just
after 4pm and so I took a much needed shower and freshened up. At six
I went into town to have a quick look around and to have something to
eat. Kochi was 'stop number four' today and it isn't bad at all. The
city is pretty small however, it's streets are lined with palm trees
<i>(this is what I love about Japan; the country is just so different
– and at the same time, so alike - depending on where you go) </i>and
it seems to be quite laid back. I went to a ramen restaurant called
'Tokushima Ramen' for dinner and had their specialty <i>(ramen is a
bowl of noodles in a broth). </i>Once done I finished my look around
Kochi before buying even more liquid and returning to my hotel.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So
there you have it! Another day down, only six more left. Due to
'life' getting in the way, I have seriously had to shorten my
holidays to save money <i>(I want to save for a deposit for a house,
a car, household furniture etc … you know, life things) </i>therefore,
this is a blitz of a trip and I'm sure you can see it already by
reading this post. What I have done today, I would have normally
taken three days to do it. If I am honest, I much prefer my longer
holidays. I maybe seeing the same amount of stuff, but I don't feel
as though I am enjoying them as much. I am always thinking about the
next thing and if I have time. Anyway, tomorrow I'll get up early
before driving around Shikoku's southern coastline. I shall them make
it to my over-night stop town of Uwajima before heading off to look
at the Shimanto-gawa … Shikoku's longest river. Until then...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-69877692289761994742016-08-15T01:22:00.000-07:002016-08-15T01:22:34.056-07:00A dancing fools festival
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Sunday 14<sup>th</sup> August 2016</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Sunny and very, very hot.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_uOPWO_8K8&index=7&list=PLT-52G6XpYtk4EsGYzkOjVp-F-E47Anzi">Headlight</a> - Monkey Majic</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
was struggling to stay asleep for the last hour before my alarm was
due to go off. Ten hours of sleep had proven a little too much. Still
I felt good and so, at 5:30am when my alarm went off, I got up, got
wash and dressed, packed and read my emails before hitting the free
breakfast buffet once more. After filling my stomach, I picked up my
bags from my room and vacated the hotel. The time was 7:10am.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Though
I had to go south-west, I started by heading north. Fukui is famous
for it's beautiful coastline and so I wanted to see as much of it as
possible. One I hit the coast I then plummeted south along the
coastal road. Once again I had planned well; it was a Sunday in the
middle of a holiday where everyone should now be at home with their
loved ones. This left this 'one lane traffic light free' road pretty
much open and I was able to enjoy the view. I thought that it was a
fantastic road however, on any normal day, all of these small fishing
villages I found myself passing through would have poured slow moving
traffic onto the road.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
breezed south down Fukui's coastline thinking that it looked just as
pretty as anywhere else in Japan. I then went west, still hugging the
coast. This took me across Kansai, missing all of the big cities.
Again traffic wasn't too bad and so I kept a steady pace.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
I'd gone west enough to be parallel with the bridge that would take
me to Tokushima, I dived south along the '178'. I'd decided to keep
north for as long as possible to avoid all the major cities and it
seemed to have done me well. Now was the tricky part; the part of my
trip which I'd been dreading. I had to join the motorway in order to
get onto the bridge that would take me across to Shikoku. Not only
that; before the bridge, three separate motorways came together in a
jungle of concrete and junctions. One slip up and I would be going
the wrong way. One slip up and it would cost me extra cash.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">To
avoid missing the correct junction, and therefore spending more
money, I decided to change my 'plan of attack' for this bridge. Once
close to it, I decided to meander my way through some local roads
near to where the three motorways met. Sure it took longer however,
it also meant that I joined the correct motorway and that I wouldn't
have to look out for junction signs.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Everything
went well and I found myself crossing the largest suspension bridge
in the world. As I started to cross I looked down to my left to see
where, eight months ago, I had gone to take photos of this bridge. I
kept driving checking out the view and this amazing bridge. The sky
was bright blue with a few white clouds. The water too was crystal
blue with some serene islands dotted around. All was well in my
world.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This
is where I made the biggest mistake of my journey. This bridge took
me to an island preceding Shikoku. Once here I had two choices; I
could either stay on this highway all the way to Tokushima <i>(costing
more but being quicker), </i>or I could take the free local road
which went down the eastern coast of the island. This would take
longer however, it would allow me to see the island and save me some
cash. I therefore opted to take the local road.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ninety
minutes it took me! Ninety! Endless traffic lights and extremely slow
drivers put all the nails in the coffin for any enjoyment I might
have had looking around this island. I was utterly thankful when I
made it to the southern point of the island. I then rejoined the
highway to cross another bridge which got me onto Shikoku. The
bridges had cost me £25 in tolls to cross … about the same as I'd
spent in petrol getting from my home town to Fukui <i>(800km) … </i>Now
can you see why I don't use toll roads in Japan.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
a present for persevering though the above island, I kept on the
highway until I entered Tokushima. Festival traffic was already
building. I decided not to head into the centre of town. Instead, I
went to the western edge to look for parking. Sure it was a much
further walk to the festival however, I needed to leave the city from
the west to get to my hotel tonight. I found a '£4 all day' car park
and the owner helped me buy a ticket. I was lucky to have found
somewhere so cheap; as I walked towards the centre of town, prices
climbed to £15.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After
stopping for dinner I then went to the festival. I didn't need any
directions … I just followed the constant drumming. This festival
celebrates Obon; the celebration of the dead. Groups consisting of
dancers and musicians formed up around the city. The musicians
consisted of mainly drums keeping a beat for the dancers. The dancers
consisted of men and women however, it was the women I'd come to see.
Dressed in beautiful Yukata, they wore a half-moon hat upon their
heads. All dancers sat in a circle chanting “The dancing fools and
the watching fools are equally as foolish. So why not dance?”. It
would appear that groups of dancers got up from this circle at
random. They would dance until they got tired, where they would dance
back to the circle, sit down, and other dancers would get up to take
their place. The dance moves were interesting; it's difficult to
describe but their arched arms represented foolishness and death in
one go.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
really liked that the organisers had spread the festival all over the
city. This meant that everyone could find a place to watch a group
<i>(and as all groups were doing the same dance, it didn't matter
which group you watched). </i>There were seats you could pay for and
food stalls everywhere. I wondered around checking out the city of
Tokushima as well as the festival. Once I felt that I'd seen all of
the groups and a lot of the city, I looked at my watch; 8:00pm. I had
been here for three hours and there was another two and a half to go.
I hate leaving things before they are finished however, as the dances
would just be repeated again and again for the next 150 minutes, I
struggled to find a reason to stay. In the end it was my tiredness
which made the decision for me. I watched one last group dance the
night away before I retired to my car.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
drive to Takamatsu – where my hotel is – wasn't too bad. There
was one car which went really slowly - when 'double yellow lines'
were present - causing a huge line of cars. Once there were places to
over-take, he started to speed up. I hate this type of driver; if you
want to go slow … go slow. If you want to go fast … go fast.
Don't annoy everyone <i>(I also don't understand why someone would do
this as surely, it's not much fun for them or the people behind). </i>As
I steamed past him I gave a few gestures to express my appreciation
however, in the dark, I'm sure that they were wasted.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
got to my hotel and just went to my room. It looked okay however, I
wasn't that interested. I put my bags down and collapsed on the bed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-46112021191024100612016-08-13T03:23:00.001-07:002016-08-13T03:23:45.836-07:00A city built for a bigger population
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Saturday 13<sup>th</sup> August 2016</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Sunny and very, very hot.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtnBVckwHvA">Te Wa Tsunagou – Ayaka</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
couldn't believe it when my alarm clock went off at 6:30am. I knew
that I had fallen asleep the moment my head had hit the pillow. I
also knew that I had slept well however, it felt as though I had only
been asleep for eight minutes, and not the eight hours I'd actually
been snoozing away for. I hit my alarm and had another ten minutes
sleep before getting up, taking a long shower, getting dressed and
prodding the newly formed bags under my eyes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
wondered if this hotel had experienced a foreigner at a free
breakfast buffet before. I piled my plate high with sausages, potato
crochets, salad and cold meats amongst other things. I then also had
a side salad dish and two cups of orange juice. As I sat down I
noticed that the Japanese were much better at this than their western
cousins. Not only had the guy, to my left, got a lot more food than
I; but he had arranged his beautifully across five different plates.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
walked to my car and discovered that, to my joy, it had only cost me
£1.50 to park my car for the entire night <i>(much cheaper than the
£4 hotel car park however … a lot more inconvenient). </i>I got in
my car and planned my route to Eihei-ji, a Buddhist temple where a
community of monks live to this day. Not being hugely into religious
things I wasn't raring to go however, there isn't really anything
else to see here <i>(a part from a dinosaur museum, as Fukui has the
largest amount of dinosaur bones in all of Japan … but the museum
was far away and most of it would have been in Japanese). </i>I
therefore got in my car and set off, glad to see that the temple was
only 20 kilometres away.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
found the temple high in Fukui's nearby mountains built on the slop
of a wooded mountain. Due to being super early, I found an 'all day'
£3 car park virtually empty. I abandoned my car and went into the
temple complex knowing that these things often open super early. I
did the outskirts of the temple first however, a part from a
graveyard, there wasn't much to see. I therefore paid the £4
entrance fee reluctantly, as I have seen hundreds of temples and this
one couldn't possibly be that different.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It
wasn't. What was nice was that, as mentioned above, monks still live
and work here. One of them even rushed up to talk to me which I
thought was a very nice thing to do ... until he pointed out that I
still had my shoes on and I should have taken them off. I was still
quiet tired and so my patience was quite low. I told him – in my
pigeon Japanese – that I didn't want to sit through hours of
sermons or talks; I just wanted to look around and take a few photos.
He then showed me to the starting point of the tour and from then on,
I followed the directions. Eihei-ji stands for the 'temple of eternal
peace' and it certainly felt like that. Built on a wooded slope, the
trees kept the sun away and there was a lovely quietness to the
place. The buildings were the same as any other temple including the
ridiculous amount of golden offerings. As I walked around the site, I
thought about that monk I'd spoken to. Religion is just another way
of saying “I'm afraid of dying” and to devote your whole life to
a set of rules which restricts your liberties so that you can
mentally feel more at ease with the thought of death seems bizarre to
me. Anyway, each to their own.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Finally,
I looked around the last room in this huge complex and made my way to
the exit, by-passing the gift shop <i>(what would religion be without
money?). </i>I put my shoes on and went back to my car. Before
driving off I bought a drink from a drinks machine and downed it …
this wouldn't be the last time I would use a can machine today.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
made it back to my hotel just after 10am. Due to the fact that I
needed to park my car for a good nineteen hours, I used the now
vacant hotel car park. I then slipped into my room to drop of some
stuff before heading into the city of Fukui.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
mentioned above, Fukui has the largest discovery of dinosaur bones
anywhere in Japan. This hasn't been lost on the prefectural
government of Fukui, as three dinosaur models have been placed
outside the impressive train station. The train station too has a
huge dinosaur piece of art with the words above reading 'Dinosaur
Kingdom Fukui'. As mentioned before, the area around the train
station was very impressive with beautiful new buildings. The train
station was lovely though a little small. I went to the nearby
information office where I picked up a handy city map. I asked the
lady to pinpoint the 'restaurant area' part of town <i>(I wanted to
have a look around and find somewhere for tea) </i>however she only
highlighted single eateries. Once done, I left to have a wonder
around and find Fukui's 'eight attractions', as shown on the map.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My
guidebook wasn't kidding when it said that there wasn't much to do
here. The 'eight attractions' of Fukui consisted on a shrine <i>(there
are shrines everywhere), </i>a hill, one stone block which is
labelled as the 'ruins of Fukui's stone wall', a tree, a museum, a
garden, an expensive tea house and the cities old castle sitting in
the centre … which is off limits as it has been turned into a giant
police station. The only good thing about these sites was that, they
were spread all over the city meaning that I saw the city as I walked
between them and, it was the city which was far more interesting.
Fukui has a few sparks of life; hidden away are alleys of interesting
shops and stores however, most of Fukui seems barren. Lots of retail
units are abandoned and, a part from around the train station, no one
is walking about. This could be down to the heat however, not many
people were driving either. As I walked around – trying to walk in
either a north or south direction as that was where the shade was
however, this was difficult as all of Fukui's attractions are on a
west / eastern axis – the city felt weird; not like a zombie town,
more of a failed project. The cities infrastructure is amazing. A
brand new electronic tram, underground parking, underground walkways,
covered walkways - to protect from snow in the winter and the sun in
the summer, electronic bus timetable information and a beautiful new
train station. It feels as though this city was built to attract
people however, they didn't come. Things were starting to make sense.
Yesterday, road sights hardly showed Fukui until I was 30 kilometres
away. Today at the tourist information office, the lady probably
didn't mark a 'restaurant area' of the city because, there probably
isn't one.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Due
to the cities 'attractions' turning out to be a little disappointing,
I found myself at 1pm with little to do. This didn't however, stop me
spending money … in fact it meant that I spent more. Due to the
heat, I couldn't stop drinking. I bought a can from a drinks machine,
followed by a lovely ice cream. I had only walked the length of the
street the ice cream shop was on when I went into a Burger King and
had another ice cream, a drink and a burger and fries to eat. Last
night I pondered why I had budgeted so much money for food and now, I
remember why … liquid. I am not hungry, I just want to drink.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
out of Burger King I decided to head back to my hotel for another
shower and to relax until dinner time. Many of you probably think
that Fukui has been a bit of a disappointment; not at all. After the
mammoth drive yesterday, and the huge drive to come tomorrow, I
needed a place where I could spend half the day sightseeing and the
other half resting. I needed a 'stop-over city' and Fukui has
provided that for me. At 4pm I got on with looking through my photos
for the day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">At
6pm I went out in search of food. I wasn't particularly hungry
however, I needed something to eat. The streets of Fukui were just as
deserted as they were during the day. I found a 'cheapish' restaurant
where I was greeted by the Japanese equivalent of a Yorkshire woman.
I asked for the curry to which she replied “...are you sure ….
it's hot!...”. I said that I was; though my mind saw me leaping to
my feet. I would then tell this woman to 'fear not old woman from the
north. For I am British and I am made of fighting stuff. I see old
woman that you have brought a salad AND two cups of water with ice ….
I will not be needing any of those. Watch me old woman, as I laugh at
you whilst pouring your 'so called' hot curry down my throat....”
My mind is a wonderful thing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My
God it was hot! Did I finish eating it? No. Did I come close? Yes.
Did I need the salad and two cups of water with ice? Oh yes. At one
point I thought about running across the street and going head first
into the local fountain. I paid up, made the 'it was a really big
meal … I'm full' excuse and went back to my hotel.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So
tomorrow is the big day. I am getting up at 5:30am before driving to
Tokushima to watch the Awa odori. It finishes around 11pm therefore,
I won't make it back to my hotel until the early hours. Very excited
however, I am not sure when that blog with be written <i>(I may start
to write it in Tokushima as I wait for the festival to begin … time
depending) </i>or in what form it will be presented to you … It
could be very quick indeed. All I know is, is that I will try my
best.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-16477902104378120732016-08-12T05:55:00.000-07:002016-08-12T05:55:45.694-07:00From dawn until dusk
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Friday 12<sup>th</sup> August 2016</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Sunny and very hot however, I didn't notice the heat as I was in my
'air-conditioned car' for the whole day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baV1NAcuaHU">The mistakes I've made</a> – Monkey Majik</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT48cO6kdXlx9nIwFhv7RRoMicvU54-klBAl4zjz5JteT15qXkO9NcmRXeeHM70vZxLbGWE8aHKIy_VGWzcJaS_Z4uHmV9z_swog9iI9Ah7vKnHbLD1jRFNUtxkUpt_OANuozzbAQVo490/s1600/cocosjapan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT48cO6kdXlx9nIwFhv7RRoMicvU54-klBAl4zjz5JteT15qXkO9NcmRXeeHM70vZxLbGWE8aHKIy_VGWzcJaS_Z4uHmV9z_swog9iI9Ah7vKnHbLD1jRFNUtxkUpt_OANuozzbAQVo490/s320/cocosjapan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
you would expect, I'd planned everything. Preparation for today
started on Wednesday; I'd finished packing my case and had put it in
my car ready <i>(my car's parking space is quite a way from my
apartment). </i><span style="font-style: normal;">I also started to
change my sleeping routine on Wednesday by getting up early and going
to bed late. I got up at 5am, followed my 3am on Thursday so that
today, when I needed to get up at 1am, I hoped that I wouldn't feel
too tired.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I
had also spent ages pondering over road maps trying to decide which
way was best. I now find myself in the middle of Japan's 'Obon'
season </span><i>(like our Christmas season) </i><span style="font-style: normal;">which
meant that everyone was on the road, driving to their home-towns.
Over the years, the Japanese have migrated south in search of work in
the big cities therefore – I hoped – that the majority of traffic
would be heading from the south to their home-towns in the north. I
was heading from the north to the south.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I
had also decided that I wanted my route to be beautiful, with lots of
country roads and superb views. This work nicely because, I felt that
avoiding all cities would be beneficial. Finally, there was one other
thing which I had to avoid...</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Within
the Garden of Eden there was a snake called Satan. It was this snake
that told Adam and Eve about their nakedness and they were ashamed.
When God discovered this, he cast Satan out of the garden however,
before doing so, Satan had enough time to create one thing which
would plague the world – Japan in particular – for decades to
come. Worse that the seven plagues </span><i>(or One Direction) </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Satan
created the traffic light. God I hate traffic lights; the time you
waste slowing down for the lights … stopping … and then speeding
up is unbearable. Japan has no round-a-bouts so every junction is
'lit up'.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">With
the above in mind I made the below plan:</span></span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Leave
Tagajo at 2am. Take the '45' to Sendai before taking the '4' south.</span></span></span></div>
</li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Before
getting to the city of Fukushima, take the '5' around the city
meeting up with the '115' which goes across the mountains.</span></span></span></div>
</li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Turn
west onto the '45' and head into Aizu-Wakamatsu for breakfast.</span></span></span></div>
</li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Take
the '252' 'South – west' over the Japan's spectacular middle
mountain ranges.</span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Head
down the '117' however, before hitting the heavily congested city of
Nagano, take 'local roads' across to the '146'. Head south to
Matsumoto.</span></span></span></div>
</li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Before
getting into Matsumoto, take the '25' and skirt around the outside
of the city. Join up with the '158'. This road then goes all the way
through Gifu </span><i>(through Takayama) </i><span style="font-style: normal;">into
the city of Fukui.</span></span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Rough
time estimation: 12 – 14 hours </span><i>(Actual time needed: 16
hours)</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Rough
distance estimation: 620 – 640km </span><i>(Actual distance: 800km)</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Predicted
petrol cost: 5,000Y (£40) <i>(Actual cost: 4,000Yen (£30))</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Everything
started well. I got up at 1am and got ready feeling quite energetic.
After locking my apartment door <i>(and making a 'remember-able') </i>I
walked over to my car and set off at 2:20am. The '4' was wide open.
Apart from TRAFFIC LIGHTS nothing stopped me and I flew down to
Fukushima. I found the road around Fukushima with ease and was just
heading up the mountainous '115' when the sun rose. I'm not sure if
anyone has been on a mountain range when the sun rises but, I can
honestly say, it's one of the most beautiful sites imaginable. Still
there wasn't a car to be seen and so I found myself in Aizu-Wakamatsu
at 5:30am having a 'second breakfast'.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Next
it was time to take my most favourite road in the whole of Japan; the
'252'. As I said earlier, this road goes across Japan's central
mountains and offers some wonderful views …. if it isn't cloudy
that is. Sure enough, huge clouds covered the sky preventing me from
seeing much at all. This did mean that I didn't make any stops and so
I found myself on the edges of the city of Nagano at around 10am.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
was approaching the city of Nagano from the north - east and, I
wanted to be on the north – west flank. There wasn't a by-pass and
so I had to use local roads which, looking at my map, seemed straight
enough however, in reality, they were anything but. I meandered my
way up and down countless mountains trying to reach the wide open
valley on Nagano's west flank. It took a huge amount of time and
wasn't helped by the fact that the time was now 10am, and so
'grandmas' had taken to the roads in force, not realising that their
cars can go over ten miles an hour quite easily.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After
a lot of swearing, cursing and realising that, in all honestly, it
probably would have been quicker to go through the city of Nagano, I
arrived on Nagano's western flank and proceeded to take the valley
road directly south towards Matsumoto. The by-pass I used to go
around Matsumoto was much better than the one I used to go around
Nagano. I therefore found myself on the '158' at 2 O'clock. This was
the final road I had to take however, I still had to travel a good
300 km along it <i>(and I have already done 500km).</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
past the Kamikochi National Park <i>(which I have visited...
beautiful) </i>the number of cars fell drastically and I picked up my
speed from 25 miles and hour, to 50! The next problem was that the
city of Takayama <i>(been there too) </i>lay directly in my path and
I couldn't see a way around the city. It wasn't until I found myself
stuck in Takayama's heavy traffic, jammed between two pairs of
traffic lights that I realised two things. I had indeed spent most of
my trip missing traffic lights and cities … and it had been good.
Secondly, as I looked at my map, I did notice a by-pass around the
city however, it was to late now.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Finally,
heroically, I made it through the city and … I wanted to cry. I had
been driving for 13 hours and I still had two full pages of my road
atlas to do. What makes this part of Japan amazing is it's mountain
ranges. These same mountains also break your spirit as you
continually have to drive up and down them plus – on many occasions
– drive in the wrong direction to finally find a road heading the
way you want it to<i>. </i>Heading north or south in the central part
of Japan is easy … east or west; nightmare.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
eventually made it into Fukui at 6:20pm. I stopped at a family
restaurant and had a big dinner – due to missing lunch – plus a
dessert as a present for driving so far. I'm glad that I waited until
Fukui to have dinner; my body rejected getting back into the car
after stopping. I only had another 6km to go to my hotel and yet, it
was becoming quite a struggle.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
you can imagine, once I found my hotel all I wanted to do was go to
bed … but no. The hotel's car park was full and so I had to ride
around the city looking for a 'pay and display' car park <i>(which
the hotel does not reimburse … shocking). </i>I finally made it
into my room at 8:30pm. I plan to get up at around 6:30am tomorrow
therefore, I am looking at a nice 8 or nine hours of sleep.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Tomorrow
I plan to use my car for an hour only in order to visit a temple in
the morning. I shall then head back to my hotel and spend the
afternoon in Fukui's city centre as it looks quite pleasant.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Until
then </span></span>
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<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">P.S.
One of the roads I used played a song as I travelled over it … how
ace, a musical road.</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-42415311494952652862016-05-10T04:05:00.000-07:002016-05-10T04:06:34.959-07:00Zombies, flowers and the sun<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date: Wednesday 4th and
Thursday 5th May 2016</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather: Glorious. The
weather was beautiful and sunny for the whole trip. There was a
strong breeze which, thankfully, kept the temperature down however, I
still had to be careful of getting sunburn.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3 track of the day:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11GYvfYjyV0">Road trippin</a> - Red Hot Chilli Peppers</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I awoke at around the
same time I would normally wake up if I was going to work. As you can
see by the date, I was travelling on a Wednesday and Thursday at the
beginning of May and so I will forgive you if, at this moment in
time, you are feeling a little confused. During the first week of
May, Japan has a string of bank holidays which it calls `Golden
Week`. This is a time when the whole Japanese population is supposed
to help it's tourist industry by travelling somewhere within Japan
... anywhere. In a country where having Saturday AND Sunday off in a
single week is classed as a `long holiday`, having four bank holidays
altogether is a treasured time and people do take the opportunity to
have a couple of days sight-seeing. Sadly, due to how the holidays
had fallen this year, Friday the 29th April was a holiday however,
Monday 2nd May wasn't. Tuesday through to Thursday were indeed
holidays however, everyone was back at work on the Friday. In order
to make the most of the three days I decided to get all of my jobs
done on Tuesday, leaving Wednesday and Thursday free for a spot of
`day tripping`. The problem was deciding where to go. For the first
time in ages I hadn't pre-planned anything therefore, finding a hotel
for the night was going to be expensive and difficult. I also didn't
fancy travelling miles just to be surrounded by thousands of Japanese
people <i>(honestly it would have been better to have travelled on a
normal weekend however, I was bored)</i>. I ummed and arred, finally
deciding upon a small city within a prefecture which I'd never
visited before. The city's name is Mito and the prefecture is called
Ibaraki, which is only two prefectures south of where I currently
live. My sole reason for choosing this place was biased on a photo
I'd seen on the internet, taken two weeks ago. Rolling hills of blue
flowers filled the photograph, with a matching blue sky behind. Now
was the time when a blue flower - which I have forgotten the name of
- blooms making a park close to Mito extremely beautiful. I also felt
that, though this was indeed an attraction, it was not a main
attraction therefore, I hoped that the crowds would be reasonable
<i>(and as I searched for a hotel, my hopes increased as there were
still quite a few vacancies in the area)</i>. So there I was, at
5:15am getting ready and having breakfast. Once consumed I got in my
car and left my current home city at around 6:30am. After I'd stopped
for fuel I proceeded south wishing not to stop again until I reached
the flower park.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My route to Ibaraki
could not have been easier. I left my city along the 'forty-five' and
changed onto the 'four'. Once south of Sendai I changed for the final
time onto the 'six'. This road practically went past the park itself.
Once on this road I settled down and tried to enjoy the view however,
the sky was dark and the rain was pouring down. I had checked the
weather forecast before setting off and this downpour of rain did not
bother me in the slightest; the weather was behaving exactly as
predicted and it was scheduled to become sunny for when I arrived at
the park. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once close to
Fukushima`s northern border with Miyagi, I left Sendai's sprawling
urban outskirts behind and was now in a world of rice fields, farm
houses and small shops. The road was pretty clear of traffic too, and
so my pace was good. Now; I am sure some of you only know the name
'Fukushima' due to it's infamous nuclear power plant and their
infamous problems. I would like to say first of all that, of course I
know that what happened to the people - and their lives - within this
area was horrible, tragic and shocking. On 11th March 2011, a huge
Earthquake hit this area causing catastrophic damage to the nuclear
power plant, which in turn spilled out nuclear waste into the local
area. Even today, some food products are banned if they are grown
within Fukushima and customers always read where their food is
produced ... and yet ... I have to admit ... as the 'six' wound it's
way towards the power plant ... I found it incredibly interesting.
The rain was still pouring down and it felt as though I was the only
car on the road. Whereas before, farmers were planting a fresh crop
of rice into their water-filled paddies, here the paddy fields lay
bare. Traffic lights were shut down and so too were the shops along
the street. I was still a good eight miles or so from the actual
power plant and yet, police road blocks had been set-up preventing
anything other than a motorised vehicle from proceeding onwards. I
switched my air-conditioning system to circulate internally only <i>(as
if that would help protect me from any possible radiation)</i>. It
was then that things started to get really bad. The town surrounding
the power plant had not been touched since the earthquake. Mummies
within shop windows could be seen lying on the floor and signs had
fallen from poles. Every road which led off the 'six' into the
community had a huge metal gate barring anyone from entering. Men in
suits were posted every so often and cars had been abandoned within
car parks now covered in weeds and grass. It was just like an 'end of
the world' Zombie film. Unsurprisingly, my speed increased without me
knowing but, due to being the only car on the road, little attention
was given to what lay ahead. I just kept peering into this 'after
earthquake zombie snap-shot'.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It took thirty minutes
from when I passed the last open shop to when I got to the next one.
I pulled into a convenience store and grabbed a bottle of water and a
doughnut. I hadn't even got to my destination yet and already the
trip had been an experience. Once back in my car the weather started
to brighten. I pushed forever southwards hitting the Fukushima /
Ibaraki boarder an hour later. I finally arrived at the flower park
around 1pm.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Thankfully - after such
a long drive - both traffic and people within the park were light. I
easily found a parking space and grabbed a map before entering the
park. Looking at the map, the hills of blue flowers were to the north
of the park. To get there, I had to go through a rose garden and
around a large blue lake. The rose garden had seen better days as the
flowers were starting to wilt however, some strong willed roses -
luckily it seemed to be a couple in each colour present - carried on
the fight and I enjoyed seeing them. Once past the lake I made it to
the hills of blue flowers. Probably due to the earlier bad weather
front, the hills weren't as blue as they could have been. The area
was still impressive; huge areas of blue flowers swarmed around the
odd tree however, the higher the hill climbed, the more the blue got
replaced by green. I got my camera out and strategically took photos
which would give the impression of a world of blue.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once done I spotted an
ice cream stand. Being quite hot, I decided to join the huge queue
and buy an ice cream forgoing my usual 'food within a tourist
location is always more expensive than it should be' stance. The
queue moved a lot quicker than I had expected and all of a sudden I
was holding a '99' ice cream with a big smile on my face. Instead of
being white, the ice cream was a bright blue colour and I wondered if
it had something to do with the flowers within the park. As I tried
to read a Japanese poster about the ice cream the unimaginable
happened ... my ice cream slid off the cone and onto the floor ...
with everyone watching.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I could have cried. I
know it is just an ice cream ... I know it doesn't matter ... but
there is something about being happy over such a little thing and
then suddenly, it being taken away from you that just affects me. I
stared at the pool of blue being sucked down into the ground below. I
was just about to walk off and forget the whole thing when I stopped,
joined the queue again, and paid for another one. I wasn't going to
let this moment ruin my holiday. I paid another £2 and carefully
took the ice cream - by-passing all of the people who saw my first
ice cream fall - and sat down on a bench and consumed it. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I have no idea if the
whole 'loosing my first ice cream' made it taste better however ...
it was damn good. The flavour is difficult to describe; all I can say
is that it was delicious. By the time I'd finished it, my first ice
cream had all but evaporated. I left the area pretty happy and went
to investigate the rest of the park.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I had seen the north of
the park and so now I turned east. With it's tall trees and many
types of grasses, this part of the park felt more like a wildlife
reserve. This area soon became my favourite part of the park as I
seemed to be the only one there. The sun was shining and things were
great. After twenty minutes or so I left this area and followed my
nose to a hot dog stand. My mouth dropped when, not only did I see a
food product - within a tourist area - priced reasonably, but the hot
dog was huge. I would go as far to say that it was actually cheap. I
bought one and held onto it tightly before consuming the whole thing
... it must have been fourteen inches in length easily.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once consumed I felt
full enough to forgo a proper lunch and wait until dinner time. I now
proceeded into the western part of the park. This part was split into
two sections with the south being taken over by an amusement park
<i>(which I skipped pretty quickly)</i> <span style="font-style: normal;">and
the north used the beach it backed onto to create a kind of 'sand
garden'. All building materials used were sand in colour and it
really made the area look as though it would have been more at home
in the Middle East than in Japan. As it turned out, this area was
quickly becoming my second favourite area of the park however, sadly,
I didn't have time to appreciate it. For some UNKNOWN REASON,
Japanese parks close and this one had decided to close at 5pm ...
even though it didn't get dark until 7pm. As I walked towards the
exit, it soon became apparent that a lot of people didn't like the
closure time either, as they kept on playing whatever sport they were
playing at the time. I thought about joining them however, the
constant messages over the speakers were starting to ruin the peace
and quiet I had sought for in the park anyway. I therefore decided to
return to the main gate, noticing a feature this park had which I
really, really liked. Throughout the day it hadn't occurred to me
but, I hadn't come into contact with a cyclist. I have nothing
against cyclists but it is rather frustrating is when you have to
constantly be aware of traffic moving at a faster pace than you
whilst trying to relax. Thankfully, the park is so big that cyclists
actually have their own path which, through the use of tunnels and
bridges, never came into contact with a single footpath. What’s
more, along the cycle route were 'stopping stations' where a cyclist
could park their bike and proceed on foot through some of the sites.
I really liked this idea and felt that it should be adopted
throughout the world.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">As
mentioned before, I left the park at it's 5pm closing time. The sun
was still high in the sky and I wasn't really ready to call it a day.
I therefore got out my map and proceeded to try and find something of
interest whilst a queue of cars formed behind me, patiently waiting
for the traffic lights to turn green. There was a lake thirty minutes
south of my position and, though my guidebook didn't mention it, I
decided to 'give it a whirl'.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">At
first, the traffic leaving the park did affect the speed in which I
could drive at. Once away from the park my speed increased and I made
it to the lake within forty-minutes or so. I'm guessing the reason
why the lake hadn't made it into my guidebook was that it wasn't
anything special. I drove around the lake trying to find somewhere to
park however, I couldn't find a single visitors centre. Giving up I
headed back north to where my hotel was.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I
arrived within the vicinity of my hotel, hungry and at 7:30pm. I
found a chain tempura restaurant and decided to stop there as a) you
can get a lot for your Yen and b) I quite fancied tempura. Once
consumed, I walked to a local supermarket to buy some chocolate for
dessert and a bottle of orange juice to put in my hotel room. I then
drove for five or six minutes and parked within my hotel's car park.
Tonight I would be staying within a 'Route Inn' - a bit like a travel
lodge in the UK. The price wasn't too bad and it did indeed include
breakfast. Today had been a good day, I was back travelling and all
was well in my world ... until I sat down on my hotel bed. The thing
didn't move. I refused to call it a table because, I believe, a table
has more 'give' in it. I turned on the TV and found no foreign
channels. I drank some of my orange juice, and had a long shower,
before admitting that there was little I could do. I therefore
decided to 'hit the sack' at the rather pleasant time of 9pm, hoping
for an early start tomorrow.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">So
today had been pretty good. I hadn't spent a lot but I had seen a
lot. I was back to my old self, wondering what tomorrow might bring.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Thursday 5th May</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
did not have a very good nights sleep last night. This bed must be
the worst bed I have ever slept on. Still it mattered not; I was
refreshed enough. I got up, had another shower - got to get my monies
worth - and headed down to the breakfast buffet at 8am.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For
the money, the buffet was fantastic ... if a little weird. I mean,
it's not everyday onion rings are on the breakfast menu </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">(I
do like onion rings)</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">. I
helped myself to two-and-a-half plates full of food, planning to
stuff myself until dinner. I had rice, cold meats, salad, bread,
onion rings, juice ... the list was endless. As soon as I felt six
stone heavier, I waddled back to my room to collect my bags. I left
the hotel noticing that it was another glorious day with a cool
breeze. I had burnt my arm a little yesterday and so I had to be
careful. Today I would be heading south and into the city of Mito
itself. The road to Mito was familiar to me as it was the one I'd
used on my return journey from the lake yesterday.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Within
Mito is a park. Within this park is a garden - called Kairakuen -
labelled as the 3rd most impressive garden within Japan </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">(I
have been to the most impressive)</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
It was designed by the ninth lord of Mito – Nariaki Tokugawa - in
1841. Even though the weather was glorious, and even though it was a
bank holiday today, and even though the amount of cars increased as I
approached the park, a parking space was easy to find. The car park
was located close to a large lake. To the west of the lake lied a
large park which, it appeared, was being used to hold an event of
some kind. Across the lake was Mito's skyline and the famous garden
was to the north-west. With the lake filling the foreground, Mito
didn't half look pretty and I was raring to go. I started by heading
west and into the middle of some kind of event.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
Japanese are obsessed by food. Each county, each town has it's own
special food </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Mito's is
natto)</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">. This festival
was all about ramen; a noodle dish with meat, vegetables and spices
all put into a boiling bowl of hot broth. Now, there is one important
thing you need to know about ramen; the Japanese are ferociously
protective over their favourite dish. Reminding them of the fact
that, actually, it was imported from China doesn't go down well.
Neither does saying that all types of Ramen taste the same - they do;
but the Japanese are adamant that each counties ramen is very, very
different. I suppose it's like a foreigner coming to the UK and
telling anyone who would listen that, throughout history, the French
were simply superior to the British in every way. Anyway, as luck
would have it, the festival within Mito's main park was indeed a
'ramen festival'. Chef's from around Japan - none had been invited
from China - each had a stall and each were serving medium-sized
bowls of ramen. Instead of buying a bowl from the stall itself, you
had to queue up at another tent where you could opt for a '1 ramen',
'3 ramen' or '6 ramen' ticket, before joining the biggest queues of
people in history. I thought that it was wonderful that the people of
Japan were so enthused about a Chinese product however, I declined in
joining them as I was still full from breakfast and I didn't want to
spend the day in a queue. I grabbed an ice cream before heading north
towards Japan's 3rd most impressive garden.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Just
like the car park, the garden – Kairakuen - was free to enter. A
lot of the garden was devoted to plum trees and, sadly, I was out of
season. It is therefore difficult for me to give an opinion on
whether this garden lives up to it's claim however, it was rather
peaceful. I quickly made my way through the plum trees and into an
area of bamboo. I do love bamboo however, Arashiyama - close to Kyoto
- was a lot nicer. I went through another area devoted to huge cedar
trees before finding myself at an entrance gate to a replica of a
building – called the Kobuntei - used by the Mito clan to think,
write poetry and generally waste time </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">(the
original building was destroyed during WW2)</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
Once I had put my shoes within a plastic bag I walked through the
wooden building in my Darlek socks. The buildings was nice enough,
but nothing I hadn't seen before. It was a wooden building with paper
sliding doors, tatami floors and a first floor. Looking out from the
first floor I could see a lot of Mito however, the best site was
located directly below where I was standing. The gardens surrounding
this wooden building were beautiful and well kept. Small bushes of
many colours were strategically placed in between gravel paths and
flowers. From my high advantage point I photographed the garden more
than I photographed the city.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Once
out of the building, I put my shoes back on and looked at my watch,
surprised to find that the time was 1pm. I had a five / six hour or
so drive home and so I had wanted to leave Mito at around 2:30pm.
Having not bought any souvenirs yet, I decided to leave the park and
make a short stop to the centre of town where I bought a small
trinket </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">(which isn't very
good, but it was the best thing I could find at the time) </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">before
leaving town and getting on the 'six' north. Within an hour I got
back to where my hotel was located. I stopped for a late lunch /
early dinner. I then stopped for fuel before, finally, starting the
long trek back. It was 3:30pm.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
traffic in Ibaraki wasn't helpful. Small 'one lane roads', filled
with traffic and traffic lights, hampered my speed however, once I'd
crossed into Fukushima I was able to floor it. As if scheduled, dark
clouds prevented all sunlight from hitting the ground as I, once
again, drove through 'zombie town' and past the nuclear power plant. </span></span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">32km
later and shop lights could be seen. Business was being done and life
was occurring as normal. I continued speeding towards Sendai and
still traffic was light. I made a final stop for refreshments and a
little bit of a stretch.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
made it back to Sendai at around 8pm. My town is only a thirty minute
drive from the south of Sendai and so I found myself, within my
apartment, at 9pm. I unpacked, got ready for work and took a shower
before going to bed at 10:30pm. My Golden Week had been quick, but I
was glad that I had actually done something. The weather had been
fantastic and as I closed my eyes, I was thinking about the summer.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Toodle
Pip! </span></span></span></span>
</div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-18640033133653232152016-01-08T03:38:00.000-08:002016-01-08T03:38:06.304-08:00Three museums in one day
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Wednesday 6<sup>th</sup> January 2016</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
It was extremely cloudy. Dark grey clouds hung in the air and, as the
day wore on, the visibility reduced. Still no rain though.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ9NOV3KNpY&list=PL480A36B593520453&index=17">The Breaking of the fellowship</a> - Lord of the Rings</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
finally did it! On my last day I splashed out and went to a café for
breakfast. The lucky café I'd chosen was a 'Doutor'; a chain-café.
Once inside I was served by a young girl who looked as though this
was her first day; another colleague was showing her how the till
worked. I ordered a roast beef sandwich, a medium-sized hot chocolate
and a nice slice of cake. Of course, all of it was divine; the roast
beef sandwich was filled with fresh vegetables, roast beef and laced
with a sauce which added a little 'kick' to the ingredients. The
bread was also so slightly cooked. The cake too was lovely; it was
sweet enough for breakfast but, not too sweet. Finally the hot
chocolate tasted as if it was made using proper chocolate. All-in-all
this had become my favourite breakfast of my trip however, it had
cost three times the amount of what I'd normally spend in Mr Donuts
and twice the amount I'd unusually spend in McDonald’s. Once
consumed I felt content. Now knowing my way around the area, I went
back to Osaka's castle to find my first museum of the day; Osaka's
WW2 museum. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Housed
in a building which looks as though it is a collection of different
shaped buildings, it was surprisingly non-functional and, for this
reason alone, I liked it a lot. The entry fee was even better - £1.50
– and it came with a free audio guide. The only thing I didn't like
was that, unbeknown to me at the time, the entrance was on the second
floor of a three-storey building. The museum started on the second
floor before you then had to go down to the ground floor. Finally you
had to go back up to the third floor to see everything on offer
however, this was very unclear and I spent quite a few minutes on the
ground floor wondering where I had to go to next.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
have to praise Japan on it's WW2 museums. Having been through a lot
of Asia, no other country tries to tell the 'whole truth' when it
comes to it's military history. Whilst in both atom bomb museums –
Hiroshima and Nagasaki – I found it very refreshing that, though
the Japanese did comment that they felt both bombings were
unnecessary, they did understand America's reasoning. It was the same
in this museum and that is why, on the whole, I believed what I was
being told. First off there was an excellent video about 'how Japan
got involved in WW2'. Sadly though, my audio guide did not give me
commentary for this piece. Instead I had to watch the video twice;
the first time focusing on the subtitles before watching it again to
focus on the images being displayed. What was interesting is that, at
first at least, Japan wasn't interested in becoming a colonial power.
With the treat of the European superpowers – Russia, Britain and
France – knocking on the door of Japan <i>(France held Indochina,
the British held Malaysia, Burma and were pushing into parts of China
to protect it's opium trade. Finally the Russians were attacking
Korea from the north), </i>Japan seized Korea, plus some islands in
the north, as a 'buffer' from 'European expansionism'. It was only
after Japan's stunning victories against the Russians and the Chinese
– which, I think stunned the Japanese high command as much as
anyone else – did it start to think like a colonial power and
attack northern China for it's resources. This was condemned by the
'league of nations' however, the same league did not condemn the
great European powers expansion plans and now, you can see why Japan
would feel aggrieved. What's more, when China started to attack
British interests in China, the British heavy-handedly put any
uprising down whereas, when the Chinese tried to attack Japanese
interests in the north of the country, the British actually provided
the Chinese with aid. It's not hard to imagine that there was a sort
of 'boys club' which, the European powers were trying their up most
to stop Japan from entering.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
the museum went on it focused more and more on Osaka itself. It
showed that incendiary bombs were used due to most of Japan's
buildings being made of wood. It also highlighted the civilian
causalities through incendiary bombing however, it also explained why
the Americans had chosen this type of campaign. Finally, on the top
floor, it talked a bit about after the war and how Osaka got back on
it's feet. The museum then went a bit south with a few displays about
how war is still continuing throughout the world and how the Japanese
have 'learnt the value for peace, will do anything for peace and are
a shining light for peace'. The usual 'power-up' speeches.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
left the museum two and a half hours later with two thoughts in my
head. The first was that, if I was going to see three museums today
before my flight, then I was really behind schedule. The second was
that, though the museum was very good, this 'Japan is a shining light
for peace' is all well and good however, this pacifism from the
world's 3<sup>rd</sup> largest economy is, I believe, starting to
have a negative affect. Currently we have an ongoing bloodbath in
Syria, war's in Iraq, Afghanistan and all across Africa. What have
the Japanese done to help? Not a lot. Due to it's pacifism stance, it
has barred itself from taking part in any war no matter how noble
and, as far as I can tell, it has not taken in any refugees from any
of these countries. Japan has sent money however it has, in my view,
completely distanced itself from the world using it's pacifism stance
as an scapegoat. Japan needs the world to buy it's products and, we
need Japan to play it's part. Japan made tiny changes to it's
pacifism stance a few months ago and it was met by sheer horror from
the population, due to fear of returning to a military themed country
however, I have never visited a country so in love with peace <i>(and
I've been to Fiji) </i>than Japan is. It's just sometimes, a conflict
has to occur first in order to attain a truly meaningful and long
lasting piece … and we need Japan to help with that.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This
trail of thought lasted until I reached my next museum of the day;
Osaka's history museum. Though the ticket was over two times the
amount of the WW2 museum, I only spend a fraction of the time looking
at it's exhibits. One reason was that time was getting on but, the
other was that, though the museum focused on Osaka it went through
the 'ages of Japan' and I'd seen similar exhibits before. Via
elevator I was whisked up to the tenth floor which dealt with
'Japan's early years'. The view of Osaka castle and the surrounding
area from up here was worth the entrance fee alone. I then took the
escalator down stopping at every floor to walk around another period
of Osaka's history until the museum stopped at floor six. I then went
down the escalators until I hit the ground floor where I exited the
building and returned to my hotel.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Time
was ticking on; so-much-so that I no longer had time to visit my
third museum of the day AND return back to my hotel to pick up my
bags. I therefore decided to pick up my bags now, and take them to
the train station where I will board a train back to the airport. I
will find a locker before proceeding to my final museum, which was a
couple of stops on another train. All went well and I found myself
walking towards my last museum of the day at 1:20pm.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Annoyingly,
the museum wasn't that well signed therefore, I walked too far and,
after asking at a local convenience store, I back-tracked and found
the road which I was looking for. Once again Japan had faced up to
the fact that it's country isn't perfect – <i>which country is?</i>
This museum was called 'Liberty Osaka' and it focused on all of
Japan's social issues including the 'untouchable caste' <i>(the
Burakumin)</i>, Japan's ethic minorities, the sexist treatment
towards women and pollution. This is a rarity in any nation; a museum
which focuses on a countries bad points and presents them in the hope
that things might change. My guidebook labelled it as the 'city's
most stimulating museum' so I was looking forward to it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It
was closed. The museum was on it's holiday and would not be open
until the 10<sup>th</sup>. I, of course, was a little peeved. Not
only had I spent an hour getting here but, it had cost me over £8 in
trains and 'locker' fees. There was nothing I could do; I left the
area and took the next train back to the station where I would catch
a train to the airport. Whilst heading back, I thought about all of
the things I'd missed: the liberty museum in Osaka, a samurai house
in Kyoto – you needed a Japanese translator so there was no way I
could have gone – and Kobe's main museum. There was at least a
weekend's worth of stuff to see if I wanted to come back however, I
don't really want to come back. During my trip I have visited four
cities, two castles, one beach, three museums and over forty temple
sites. I have driven to the far north of Kansai, and I took a train
to the far south. I have been to parks, river fronts, restaurants,
train stations and on pilgrimages; I have done all this, with
Kansai's countless population all around me. I have very much enjoyed
this trip. Kansai has delivered what I expected; both in good ways
and in bad. The bad is just the sheer amount of people and just how
busy – except Nara – everywhere is. It has been so bad that I've
had to change my eating arrangements; eating breakfast at 8am and not
eating again until 4:30pm, where I would have a lunch / dinner
combination when there would be very few people heading to the
restaurants. Relaxing isn't a word that I'd use for this holiday.
Having said that, it has been a comfort knowing that there are so
many trains, that you don't have to pre-book or plan around train
times. I think the longest I waited for a train was twelve minutes;
usually it was only two or three. It has certainly been a case of
'country mouse' visiting 'town mouse'.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Due
to the fact that my last museum was closed, I found myself back at
the train station I needed to be at to take a direct train to the
airport, with an hour or so spare. I therefore looked around the
surrounding area and went to an 'English Pub' for fish and chips plus
the campiest drink ever. Being fed up with either coke or orange, I
ordered a 'berry mix non-alcoholic cocktail' which, though very nice,
was bright red. Once I'd consumed what the Japanese population
believe is a traditional English meal – they had nachos on the menu
– I still had time however, I really didn't have anything to see. I
therefore bought a ticket for the next train to the airport where I
would arrive with enough time to read quite a bit of my book. I got
my bags out of the locker and then proceeded to the platform. With
seven minutes until my train arrived I left the platform and headed
to a 'Bearded Papa's' for another two shoe-cream puff cakes. Though I
thoroughly enjoyed eating them on my train journey to the airport,
I'm not sure the same could be said in regards to the Chinese woman
in the seat opposite me. Her toddler of a daughter kept looking at me
with amazement and 'wanting' in her eyes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
train dropped me off at terminal one. I needed terminal two. Though
terminal two is really just a glorified shed – and terminal one
held most of the shops – I was not really in the mood for browsing
around shops. I therefore took a free shuttle bus to terminal two
immediately. The bus pulled up only two bays from were I'd taken a
bus to Kobe exactly two weeks ago. Memories flashed by.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Of
course I was way too early for check-in therefore, I sat down and
read a couple of my book's chapters. After check-in, I had enough
time within the 'waiting lounge' to read a further two chapters.
Peach's – that's the name of the airline I was using; terminal two
was just for Peach flights – waiting lounge was nothing I'd seen
before. Instead of chairs, big cushions and strangely shaped padded
benches roamed the area in no particular order. Though I am sure the
management at Peach were pleased with their 'ultra-modern' and cool
layout, I was rather less pleased. It looked like a child's
playground and do you know what, that's exactly how the children
treated it. One child was jumping between two benches landing very
close to me, and my souvenirs. Once I'd glared at the child's parent
for long enough, the jumping stopped.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Finally
I boarded my flight. Sadly the flight was packed and so I didn't have
a spare seat next to me. As we took off I looked down at Osaka before
we crossed through the barrier of clouds which had covered the skies
over Osaka all day. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
flight was only an hour or so therefore, it wasn't long before we
were back through the clouds. I had a quick glimpse of the city of
Sendai before the pilot made a fantastic landing; it was extremely
smooth.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
off the plane I collected my bag and moved quickly to the train
station where a train was waiting to whisk me into Sendai. It was
difficult not to notice the drop in temperature so I rapped up
tightly. I knew that I had another forty minute train ride therefore,
I got my book out once again. Once in Sendai I transferred onto my
local train however, as there were no seats available, I was unable
to read.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
one thing I had been dreading, once back at home, is walking back to
my apartment in the snow with all of my luggage. From my local train
station, I have to descend one hill to almost immediately climb
another. Luckily there was no snow therefore my walk went without
incident however, before going through my apartment's front door, I
stopped at a local convenience store to buy snacks for dinner and
tomorrow's breakfast.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
in my apartment I turned the electricity on, got the water working
and re-plugged in all of my 'electricals'. It was very cold compared
to Kansai therefore I turned on the heater and stood next to it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So
there we are; another trip bites the dust. I am hoping to be back
travelling around Japan in a couple of months time however, I need to
save a bit more money before I can make that a reality. Though I am
looking forward to a few days of peace - without having to walk for
miles - I would still give anything to be back on holiday. Not long
to wait I suppose.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Next
time; Shigoku!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-62868221404092717322016-01-05T04:35:00.000-08:002016-01-05T04:35:27.601-08:00More temples
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Tuesday 5<sup>th</sup> January 2016</span></span>
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The day started off well however, once past midday dark clouds
encircled the mountains in which I found myself in and rain started
to spit; however it soon stopped.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldyx3KHOFXw">cars</a> - Gary Numan</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
pulled myself out of bed at 6:10am and started to get ready. Within
less than a week I'll be back at work so I better get used to it, I
thought to myself. Once again I skipped having breakfast within my
local area in favour of seeing what options were close to my 'car
hire shop'. Yes indeedy; today was my third 'car hire day' and this
time, I would be taking my 'wheels' into the mountains to see one of
Japan's most holiest sites.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
used the same underground line as I had when I went to the aquarium
yesterday however, this time, I went four stops in the opposite
direction. When I surfaced, I immediately saw a Mr Donuts. It was
then that I knew that today was going to be a good day. Sadly, the
selection in Mr Donuts stores in Kansai, is not as broad as what I'm
used to. Within the kitchen, I could see a tray of freshly made
'cream doughnuts'; I waited a couple of minutes to see if they would
hit the shelves any-time soon however, they did not. I therefore
bought three doughnuts which, though delicious, were not my most
favourite. I then sat down and started to read my guidebook about
where I was going to today. Two seats to my left was a middle-aged
man who'd I'd seen on the train. On the train, he was fixated on his
smart phone. In Mr Donuts too, he rarely looked up from it. For quite
a lot of my trip, all I've witnessed is people either walking around,
on buses, in restaurants or on trains glued to their phones. Is this
really where the human race is heading? Are we so bored with what's
around us that we have to continually live within a virtual world of
games and messages filled with smiley faces? If so, then maybe we
shouldn't bother trying to save the planet; it's probably best if we
end it all quickly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
was so engrossed within my thoughts that time slipped by. I had to
eat my last doughnut in rather a hurry so that I could get to my car
hire place on time. The service at this garage was very professional;
the car was ready and filled with fuel. Today I would be driving a
'Suzuki Alto'; probably the sportiest out of my three car hires.
Though the ride, and the sitting position, were both uncomfortable,
the dashboard did have a cool feature. Depending on how economical
you were driving, the dash would either light up 'blue' - if you
weren't being economical - or 'green' if flowers were coming out of
your exhaust pipe. I was enjoying the light display so much that for
the first few miles I accelerated hard, before removing my foot from
the accelerator peddle, before accelerating again just to see the
dash board change colour. This wasn't at all dangerous.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Though
the route I'd chosen meant that I left Osaka in the quickest
direction possible, it was still pretty scary. Multi-laned roads went
in every direction; and there were so many traffic lights I lost
count. Thankfully the lanes rarely changed direction without ample
warning therefore, without any troubles, I left the city of Osaka on
it's eastern edge, heading south.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
decided to slick to the 'outside lane' along the '170' as it was the
quickest overall. Within Japan, there are no 'driving lanes' and
'over taking' lanes. Basically the 'inside lane' is full of cars
which will turn left 'quite soon'. The 'outside lane' is for cars
which will be using the road for quite a while. Apart from the
endless traffic lights, nothing else really held me up. Though the
traffic was relentless, it kept moving and soon buildings gave way to
small pieces of farm land. I proceeded onwards ever south.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Yesterday,
Google maps had said that it should take two and a half hours to get
to Koya-san from Osaka however, here I was an hour later and Koya-san
had just popped up onto the top corner of my satellite navigation
screen. I was starting to rejoice; maybe it wouldn't take anywhere
near as long as I thought it would to get to the places I wanted to
see today, I thought to myself. I had of course, rejoiced too soon.
In between me and Koya-san lay the windiest mountain road you've ever
driven up. My speed was reduced to a stand still and, because of the
amount of clouds in the sky - plus possible death at every corner -
sightseeing wasn't that great either. It took another hour and ten
minutes to park within a free car park in the heart of Koya-san. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">There
has been a monastery on this site since the ninth century and now,
hundreds of Buddhist sites fill these mountain tops. It is said that
a monk named Kukai – known after his death as Kobo Daishi – got
tired of urban life as he found it almost impossible to meditate and
reach enlightenment. He therefore threw his <i>vajra – </i>religious
implement – and, wherever it landed, would be the site for his new
temple complex. Apparently it landed in a tree here. Kukai looked at
this site; it was a plateau, with five mountain peaks forming a
protective bowl – the five peaks would later represent the five
leaves of a lotus flower – and everything was good.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Wanting
to get the most of my car – and having had enough of temples – I
quickly walked around the site as fast as I could, taking photos
wherever possible. The sky was filled with clouds therefore, I knew
that photos with the sky in them would look pretty bad. I therefore
decided to work on my 'close-up' photography skills. Now that
everyone was back at work, their were only a handful of people
around. Being halfway up a mountain, it was pretty cold which added
to the tranquillity of the place. Within one of the temples, prayers
were being said and, I had to admit that the whole place had a strong
feeling of peace. Once I'd photographed the main sites, I walked up
to the main gate to take a photo before heading back to my car. I
then drove to two UNESCO world heritage sites; one of which was
located at the most northern end of the town, and the other at the
most southern end. Having not paid for anything so far, I paid £1.00
to enter a UNESCO heritage site which contained the burial chambers
of the Tokugawa clan. After that was done – and still being pushed
for time – I proceeded down to the areas huge cemetery where,
sadly, I had to pay for parking. This huge area houses over 200,000
stone stupas, spread within an ancient cedar forest. Though it was a
cemetery, I still look quite a few photos as there were quite a lot
of interesting bits <i>(though I did feel bad)</i>. The first
interesting thing was that, at the end of the cemetery was the burial
chamber of Kukai himself. Before reaching his grave, a sign asked
people of all faiths to be respectful of the area. I mean; this is
like the father figure for Buddhism within Japan. I therefore put my
camera away and took off my hat. His mausoleum was extremely
interesting because the roof has ten thousand paper lanterns burning
brightly. It is said that Kukai is not actually dead; he has entered
'eternal meditation' and is waiting to return as Miroku – the
future Buddha – when he will help lead the faithful to salvation.
It is for that reason that a lot of companies have bought land close
to Kukai's mausoleum so that their high ranking employees can be laid
to rest here. On my way through the giant cedar trees, I saw a grave
site purchased by Panasonic. Interestingly, at the front of most
companies mausoleums is a small post box. This is for current
employees who, whilst visiting the graves, are able to post their
business card and address it to a fallen colleague, asking for help
with a tricky business decision.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Though
I had raced around the whole site - and had only paid to enter one
thing – I had still spent three hours in Koya-san; one hour more
than I wanted to. I had planned to head to the sea next however, with
an hour less of time, I wasn't sure if I could make it. The sea was
kind of on my way back to Osaka plus, to get there I had to follow,
what looked like, a beautiful road which wound its way along a
valley. My road map made this road look so appealing that I decided
to follow it and, when I reach 2:30pm, I will just cut my looses and
head back to Osaka.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
road did not disappoint. Luckily for me, there were two roads heading
in the same direction away from Koya-san; this one and another. Of
the two, this one was the slower road therefore, I pretty much had it
all to myself. There were far fewer sharp corners than the road I had
taken to get to Koya-san, and a lot more straight bits. This allowed
me to appreciate the scenery. The floor of the valley was covered in
dried rice fields, with small farm houses dotted around. The river
raced me all the way to the sea. The sides of the mountains were so
sharp, I wondered how all of the trees stayed upright. This is what I
wanted to do on one of my 'car hire days'; I wanted to get lost
within the mountains of Japan.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
the valley opened out, urban settlements came into view. It was then
that I wondered why I had ever wanted to go to the sea; it would just
be an urban site. The time also helped me decide to abandon my plans
for a drive along the coast; once out of the mountains I actually
back-tracked a little, and hugged the edges of the mountains before I
found myself on the road I'd used to get to Koya-san. I followed it
back, ever wishing that I could replace these endless traffic lights
– and countless cars – with the corners of that superb valley
road.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
I approached the suburbs of Osaka, the clouds darkened and spots of
rain fell. I thought it was fitting that it should rain on the first,
and last days of my holiday. I had been blessed with such wonderful
weather that I could not begrudge a small sprinkling of rain on my
final day. Even so, I got lucky again and, by the time I gave my car
back, the rain had stopped. The time was 5:30pm and, having not had
lunch I was very hungry. Having seen a sign for a restaurant I
decided to walk in the direction the sign was telling me however, I
never did find the restaurant. What I did find was a 'Jolly Pasta'; a
restaurant which I haven't tried before. I went in an ordered a
superb pasta dish with many different cheeses, potato and a lovely
meat sauce. It also came with a nice salad. Being my last full day I
decided to 'push the boat out' and order a chocolate cake which I'd
had my eye on ever since I read the menu. Once finished I paid the
bill and waddled to the nearest underground station.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
back at my hotel, I inquired as to how long it should take me to get
to the airport tomorrow. After a few minutes a lady came back with
three possible routes, all suggesting that a little over an hour was
needed. I would therefore need to visit the three museums I have
planned for tomorrow by 3:30pm; this should give me ample time to get
my 6:40pm flight back to Sendai. As the lady was explaining one of
the three routes, I noticed that it was quite close to one of the
museums I want to visit. I may take my bags with me and find a
locker, before visiting said museum. So there you have it; I now find
myself in my room on my final night. Can someone please explain where
the last two weeks have gone? Tomorrow's blog will be written from
the frozen north of Japan; which is where my shoebox of an apartment
is located. When, now that’s another question. As I arrive home
late tomorrow, my blog may not be written until Thursday.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Though
Kansai has been busy beyond belief, I have still thoroughly enjoyed
my holiday. I have managed to fit in so much within a short space of
time. Once home I need to plan another trip soon so that I don't just
reminisce all of the time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-62600771288546500022016-01-04T04:01:00.001-08:002016-01-04T04:01:48.741-08:00Suits, skyscrapers and people
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Monday 4<sup>th</sup> January 2016</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Once again, another beautiful hot day without a hint of rain. I can't
believe how good the weather has been on this holiday.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFM">common people</a> - blur</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF9lenFe195yrPhgYOBGwjD3Be0yDgpWtJKL3yx9Cfyp76zX8K-cE-VDtiPn8fSrhaUgvb5v4_RpUjoiN6BNBw481rdIYrA-H0lx26WNHZjK4cOsIipxzcIBpKT3JKKEF6Gto5LBE1KFmO/s1600/DSC_0355.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF9lenFe195yrPhgYOBGwjD3Be0yDgpWtJKL3yx9Cfyp76zX8K-cE-VDtiPn8fSrhaUgvb5v4_RpUjoiN6BNBw481rdIYrA-H0lx26WNHZjK4cOsIipxzcIBpKT3JKKEF6Gto5LBE1KFmO/s320/DSC_0355.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
had a lovely lie-in until around 8am, when I used the hotels 'dodgy'
shower <i>(more water pours out of the seal around the tap than
through the shower head)</i>, got dressed and headed out. Though
there were two McDonald’s within striking distance, I still wasn't
up to facing one of their 'hot cake' breakfasts. Though hungry I
decided to head for breakfast after I'd taken an underground train to
my first stop of the day; Osaka's port area.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After
a fifteen minute walk to the nearest underground station, followed by
a twenty minute train ride, I found myself at Osaka's port area. The
wind was blowing fiercely therefore, it felt much colder than in the
centre of Osaka. I wrapped up tight and walked to my first attraction
for the day; Osaka's famous aquarium. Sadly, being 9:30am, it was
shut. I had thirty minutes in which to kill and I knew how I wanted
to kill it; I wanted to have some breakfast. Sadly options were
limited; so much so that those two earlier McDonald’s were starting
to look tempting. I went into a fast-food rice restaurant where I
stumbled upon the most delightful looking breakfast, and the most
horrible looking waitress. I never fancy rice in the morning however,
luckily, this rice shop also had a sort of 'hot pot' for sale. When
my breakfast arrived it consisted of a bubbling bowl of broth filled
with vegetables and noodles. To compliment it were an array of
pickles and spices plus, unfortunately, a small bowl of rice. Another
unfortunate thing that came with the meal was the waitress. Looking
as though she had just entered her 40's, she wore a facial expression
which read 'not amused'. I wondered if she had received a call late
last night asking her to cover today's morning shift as a college –
who is always off ill – had called in sick. Add to that her face
seemed to say that her bike had been stolen, that in all of Osaka it
was only raining directly on her apartment and that she had been the
first person ever to receive a ticket for walking through a 'red
man'. She also looked as though she was chewing a wasp. At first I
pitied her; obviously life hadn't gone the way she'd planned it when
she was a little girl. After she had been rude to numerous customers
I reckoned that she had probably been given what she deserves. Once
breakfast had been consumed, I made my way back to the aquarium where
I paid the £15 entrance fee. I was then whisked up to the top floor
by escalators.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I've
mentioned it numerous times before but, when it comes to Zoo's and
aquariums, I am half in favour and half not. I like the fact that
humans – especially children – come into contact with animals so
that they learn to respect them and not to fear them. I do not,
however, like the fact that these animals are caged. The pens within
this aquarium were extremely deep, but not at all wide. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
at the top of the building you were greeted by animals which live on
both land and in the water – otters mainly; which pulled quite a
crowd as they are considered cute in Japan. These animals would
appear again as you descended down through the building where you saw
them within their water environment – due to the fact that the pens
were very deep. This set the theme for the place; you started at the
top of the building and, the lower you went, the further you were
under the sea and therefore, the animals you saw were chosen with
that depth in mind. Also, displays were split up into different
oceans within the world. Due to the fact that the pens were
worryingly thin, I got extremely close to the animals and saw them in
minute detail. The range of animals housed within this aquarium was
immense therefore, I could see why some had labelled this place the
'best aquarium in Asia'. For me however, I still think that Okinawa's
aquarium was better, simply because of the width of the tanks. It was
as if the place had been designed for 'city people' who had little
time to wait therefore, the animals were forced to swim as close to
the glass as possible. Speaking of people; though this was supposedly
the first 'working day' back after the holidays, no one had told the
thousands of children – and their useless parents – who were
charging around the place. I've mentioned before that I think it's a
good idea for children to see these animals however, I also think
that it might be a good idea for their parents to teach them not to
push.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
left the aquarium two hours after I'd entered <i>(and I wasn't
wondering around slowly). </i>If I was to build an aquarium, I'd make
it like a huge box with the centre hollowed out. The size of the this
box would be the same size as a large park, giving the animals a huge
amount of room to swim around. The centre of this 'box' would be
hollowed out with a maze of tunnels and small chambers where, people
could walk around freely. Instead of seeing the fish in 'order'; all
fish would be electronically tagged. Every paying customer would
receive a tablet where they could bring up details of a certain
animal, and it's electronic tag would tell the customer where that
animal currently was <i>(the tablet could also have a check-list so
you could make sure that you'd seen everything)</i>. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
my aquarium had been designed, I got on with reading about what
remained of Osaka that I hadn't seen. Not a lot was the answer; there
was the main part of town which was split into the 'northern part'
and the 'southern part'. Only the southern part held an attraction
which I wanted to see – a museum, which is closed on Mondays –
therefore I decided that I would take the underground train back into
the centre of the town and just walk around.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
back in the centre of town I first of all walked north and crossed
over the river I'd seen yesterday. This part of the waterfront was as
beautiful as the part I photographed yesterday. Once across I made it
to Osaka's impressive train station before turning around to head
south again. I would certainly say that this part of Osaka is the
business end. The buildings touched the sky and everyone I walked
past was in a suit. Though Kansai is a rather small part of Japan, it
alone has a bigger GDP than the whole of Canada. I walked through
this area of 'business' looking up into the sky as often as looking
where I was going. Again I would say that time had been taken into
how this part of the city would look, and not just it's function.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
I was heading back south I was starting to get hungry. Looking at my
map, I was about to enter the 'southern half of the city' and that
there was a long 'shopping arcade' which started not too far from
where I was. What's more, it cut right through the heart of this part
of the city, ending up at the southern train station. Though I had
thought that visiting 'said arcade' was indeed a good plan, it
actually ended up being the worst idea since General Hague told his
men at the battle of the Somme, that they would have a bigger chance
of surviving if they walked across no-man’s land. As I approached
the shopping street and looked down, it appeared as if the whole of
Asia was currently trying to squeeze down it. I decided to walk down,
instantly regretting my decision. Not only did I not find anywhere
that looked, A) empty and B) appetising, I had to contend with the
new '2016 Guinness World Record for the most number of people in one
area'. I made my way down this street wondering if it would ever
stop. Finally, heroically I made it to another waterfront. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">In
front of me was a small bridge, packed with people, with tall
buildings all around. Down below me, a path ran along the waterfront
which was hardly being used due to the fact that no shops existed
down there. I therefore opted to go down onto the riverbank and take
stock. The southern part of the city was a stark contrast to the
north. Where the north had been an orderly place of skyscrapers and
businessmen, here not a suit could be seen. Bright lights, vendors
displaying their wares and people were everywhere. Small streets ran
like a maze through this part of the city, all at one point having to
cross this river. I walked, and I walked, and I walked. I was loving
the atmosphere however, by 4pm, both my feet and my empty stomach
called 'time'. All three of us went to a restaurant where,
surprisingly considering how many people there were in this area, we
didn't have to wait long for a table. I ordered a steak with some
chips which, when it arrived, was so big that after eating it I
didn't have space for anything else. After forty minutes of eating
nothing but meat and potato, I waddled out the restaurant a little
disappointed that I hadn't had room for dessert. Still I had decided
to walk back to my hotel and, I remembered seeing a 'shoe cream puff'
cake shop earlier that, in a round-a-bout kind of way, was on my way
back to my hotel. Though I was so stuffed that I was sure that, if I
opened my mouth wide enough, people could see the last bit of my meal
waiting for a vacant space within my stomach, I still ordered two
cream puffs as the time was 5pm and I still had five hours or so
before I would go to sleep. I've had these cream puffs before and let
me tell you, they're delicious; so much so that my little face lit up
when the lovely lady gave me my goods. <i>“... remember that they
have to be eaten within thirty minutes...” </i>she said as she gave
me a final smile and turned to serve the next customer. Thirty
minutes! </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Now,
you know that 'Vicar of Dibley' episode where she has to eat three or
four Christmas dinners on one day … that is how I felt. I quickened
my pace as to burn more fuel therefore, create more 'stomach space'.
I ate the first cream puff as I walked back to my hotel and then the
second as I rocked through the door. It had taken me almost
forty-five minutes to get back to my hotel room therefore, I hoped
that my puff was still okay to consume … it was lovely!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So
now I am in my room and preparing for tomorrow. With all bar three
museums done, I am glad that I have a car hire tomorrow as I would
have nothing to do for my final day on Wednesday. What I am not
looking forward to is exiting and entering Japan's third largest city
via car therefore tonight, I need to plan how I am going to leave and
enter the city as quickly as possible, and then work out how I am
going to get to my main attraction for the day – Koya-san; one of
Japan's holiest mountains – before driving into the prefecture of
Wakayama. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One
thing is for sure; it is going to be a busy day!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-36114334273691493732016-01-03T04:02:00.001-08:002016-01-03T04:02:54.758-08:00Castles, accommodation and people
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Sunday 3<sup>rd</sup> January 2016</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
It was hovering around 16 degrees today making my attire totally
inappropriate for such a hot day. Accompanying this heatwave was a
beautiful and, yep you guessed it, a blue sky with fluffy white
clouds.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSuHrTfcikU">Parklife</a> - Blur</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Due
to my busy day yesterday, I got up at the leisurely time of 8am.
Though most hotels and hostels have a checkout time of 10am, this one
was 11am. I therefore had ample time to relax and get ready for my
move to Osaka. Before checking-out I finally went for breakfast at
'Viede France' which, though it was the smallest and probably the
most expensive breakfast I've had on this trip, it was also the most
delicious. I then made my way back to my hotel with a sad look upon
my face. Within Kansai lies this city – let's be honest, due to
it's size it really should be a town – called Nara. Whereas Osaka
merges into Kobe as one big urban sprawl, Nara is very much isolated
from the hustle and bustle of urban life and, I think, it chooses to
be so. It has been a very friendly place and, though lacking in
restaurants, it has had everything I've needed. Nara has most
definitely shot into my 'number one city' for the Kansai region. If I
had the money, I think that – knowing what I know now – I would
have made Nara my base for my whole Kansai trip and just used the
numerous trains to get to where I wanted to be. As I got back to my
hotel – it isn't really a hotel; it's more of a posh guest house –
I collected my bags and went downstairs. Waiting for me was the
owner, armed with his smart phone and a big smile. He asked if I had
enjoyed my time and helped me plan my oncoming journey to Osaka.
After a few clicks on his smart phone he had managed to work out a
route to my next hotel, which was different to the one I'd planned.
As he hasn't been wrong yet, I asked him to write down his route and
I followed it. This once again meant that I would be using the
private rail company instead of 'JR rail'. This didn't bother me in
the slightest; in fact, I had grown to like this rail company very
much as staff members were abundant and they all seemed to know where
each train was heading.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sadly,
the rail company cannot control who uses it's service. Though there
didn't seemed to be any nutters bound for Osaka, the lady next to me
did sniff a hell of a lot. I therefore resorted to putting in my ear
phones and reading the announcements which were shown above one of
the train doors. When my line of sight to said door had been blocked
my another lady, I had to remove one ear phone so that I could hear
when my next stop was due. Thankfully I didn't miss my stop and,
neither did I mess up my connecting underground link. Soon enough I
had exited my hotel's local underground station and was almost about
to walk in the wrong direction. Luckily, I decided to get out my
compass and map and soon after I arrived at my hotel which … was
just a door. Space is a luxury in Osaka therefore, I found my hotel's
reception on the 2<sup>nd</sup> floor. Once at reception I realised
just how much I like small private guest houses – like the one I'd
stayed at in Nara – compared to the cheap business hotel I was
currently staying in. Once I'd checked-in, there were no further
questions about my plans for my visit to Osaka. The lady wasn't ready
to provide me with additional information. It was if she didn't have
the slightest interest in travel or any traveller. When I inquired as
to where good souvenir shops could be found, I was given a less than
enthusiastic response which resulted in an underground name. Being
11am I couldn't go to my room; I therefore removed my camera, my
guidebook and my mini bag from my large bag and left the hotel in
search of Osaka's most famous tourist attraction. It's castle.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Still
not completely orientated, I actually went the wrong way and ended up
following a road leading away from the castle. As it turned out this
was a good thing as it led me to Osaka's river front. I walked along
the waterfront taking endless photos; for once, it would appear that
Japan has actually thought about the aesthetics of a place and not
just it's function as, Osaka's waterfront was very pretty indeed.
Beautiful bridges crossed a blue river to a land of skyscrapers and
trees. I enjoyed this brief walk and, once it was over, I found
myself back at my hotel. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
I'd worked out where the castle was, it didn't take me long to get
there. Once again the castle, and it's surrounding area, was very
pretty. It was such a beautiful day that I decided that I would walk
around the entire outer-moat, and then the entire inner-moat, before
going into the castle itself. The pathways running next to the
outer-moat were very pretty indeed; flowers and trees bloomed up
everywhere, all in the presence of the castle's keep and it's high
looming walls. About a billion joggers were running around the park
and I met a few a couple of times. I don't understand jogging around
the same place everyday, even a place as beautiful as this one.
Personally, if I was to take up jogging I would want to 'jog' to
somewhere. I suppose it's all 'parklife' in the end. About halfway
around the outer-moat I saw a man doing a bit of falconry. He was a
Japanese guy though, he was wearing an army jacket with the American
flag on. Though the bird was very impressive, it wasn't actually
doing a lot and so I continued on my walk. I made it to a fountain
which had been erected at the most southern edge of the park.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
I'd walked around the outer-moat, I crossed over a bridge and did the
same around the inner-moat. Obviously this took a lot less time
however, time was also helped by the fact that a third of the
inner-moat's walking route was closed due to private property or
renovation work. As I was almost completing my walk, I could here
this 'hai' … 'hai' …. 'hai'... sound. I could make out that it
was a man's voice however, I really had no idea what was going on. I
could see a small crowd in front of me all looking up at the
outer-moat's wall. On top of said wall was the falconer looking up
into a tree where his bird had perched itself on the highest branch.
There were quite a few giggles from the crowd as this falconer almost
pleaded with his bird to come down. The bird however was having none
of it; quite content to watch his owner look like a 'prized prune',
it sat up in the tree looking like it had all of the time in the
world. It was hard not to laugh and, what made it worse was that, as
I walked away I could still hear 'hai' … 'hai' … 'hai'... for
quite some time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">With
the walls finished I progressed into the central area where I found
the main castle and a huge souvenir shop <i>(so much for having to go
to another underground stop for souvenirs)</i>. I purchased a drink
and read about the castle in front of me. In all honestly, my
guidebook made the inside of the castle sound as though it wasn't
worth the entrance fee. I do usually like the outside of buildings
more than the in therefore, having seen the outside for free I was
contemplating leaving without going in. With time on my side I
decided that there was little harm having a look inside; I purchased
a ticket and joined the crowd. Today is the last day of Japan's New
Years holiday therefore, I am hoping that tomorrow might be a little
quieter.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
inside the castle I was beginning to think that my guidebook was
right. Unlike at Himeji-jo, the whole inside had been renovated to
look very modern indeed <i>(there were two elevators)</i>. The ideal
route was to take the elevator to the top of the castle and work your
way down, visiting each of the seven floors filled with exhibits. Due
to the queue for said elevators being so long, I decided to take the
stairs and go against the grain; I visited each floor as I went up.
The first floor was filled with cheap tacky amusements like being
able to have your photo taken with a plastic red samurai hat on.
Fortunately, the other floors provided more stimulating
entertainment. I didn't really take everything in however, the woven
blinds showing several battles from the 'shogun war' period really
fascinated me. The way the art told the story is very different to
what we see in Europe and for me, I found it fascinating but
confusing. The castle also housed two models; one of the castle
before it was sacked by the forthcoming shogun, and one after, when
the shogun ordered the castle to be rebuilt. Though some similarities
remained, both castles looked very different to one another. Once at
the top I managed to get a good look at the city before I headed down
and away from the castle. In total I'd spent three hours within the
castles grounds and I'd had a very good time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Being
half two, I still had time to do a bit more sightseeing however, I
wanted to stay within this area. This didn't seem to be a problem; my
guidebook had written about two of Osaka's best museums being close
by. One was dedicated to the bombing of Osaka during World War Two,
and the other was a general history museum. Being in a bit of a 'war'
mood, I went to the World War Two museum however, sadly, it was still
closed due to it being the New Years holidays. The same was true for
the history museum. With the time now close to 3pm, I decided to give
up on today and prepare as best I could for my forthcoming days here
in Osaka. I therefore went back to the giant souvenir stall close to
the castle and bought all of the presents I'd need for work. I then
headed back to my hotel were I was finally allowed into my room.
Unlike all three of my other hotels / guest houses, my bags hadn't
been taken to my room therefore, I had to carry them, plus my
purchased souvenirs, up to the seventh floor. The room, on the
other-hand, is quite nice though oddly shaped due to the exterior
wall. I set-up my stuff so that it would make getting ready, over
the next three days, as quick as possible. I then left my room and
ventured forth.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This
morning I had also enquired as to the whereabouts of a large book
store. Once again I had been given an underground station name. Once
outside of my hotel I peered across the street to see a large
shopping centre. Originally I went there to see if they had a
restaurant area – they did; but it was far too expensive. What I
also found was that the 6<sup>th</sup> floor had been designated as a
giant book store. I went in looking for a photo book of the area I'd
visited on my holiday. A very helpful lady showed me where both
English, and Japanese, photo books were. Sadly there wasn't one just
about Kansai; I could either buy a photo book for each city
individually, or a photo book of all of Japan. On closer inspection,
I didn't like the 'individual city' books as there was way too much
text. The photo book covering the whole of Japan, on the other-hand,
was actually pretty good. Due to the large geographical area this
photo book had to cover, there weren't many photos of Kansai however,
each one within the book was a place I'd visited – or am going to
visit. I looked at all the photos chosen for this book and, it's as
if the photographer had actually followed me around Japan – or that
he and I had the same guidebook. I purchased it and was rather happy
with myself.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Due
to this areas lack of restaurants, I found myself within a burger
fast-food store for tea. Looking around the area, it would appear
that food might be an issue. It might be better if I eat whilst
travelling rather than wait until I get back to my hotel. Once I'd
consumed dinner I purchased some snacks and retired for the night.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So
tomorrow I hope to head to Asia's best aquarium … or so the leaflet
suggests. It is located at the other end of Osaka so an early start
will be needed. I need to try and make the most of tomorrow as on
Tuesday I have another 'hire car day' and on Wednesday, I will
probably visit the two museums which were closed today before taking
my flight.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So
far, I have found Osaka to be quite a picturesque city however, not
really that friendly. I wonder if that will change tomorrow!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-90244745658068500482016-01-02T05:51:00.000-08:002016-01-02T05:51:14.399-08:00Trains
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Saturday 2<sup>nd</sup> January 2016</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
I know that this might be getting a bit boring but … it was another
lovely sunny day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d020hcWA_Wg">Clocks</a> - Coldplay</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Getting
up at 6:10am is not my most favourite thing to do whilst on holiday.
I had however, got up as late as I possibly could have done. As I'd
had a lovely long shower the night before, I skipped having one this
morning and, once dressed with my teeth cleaned, I left my hotel at
6:45am and walked towards the train station. Now, most of Japan's
rail network is run by 'Japan Rail'; therefore government owned.
There are however a few private lines and here I was, about to use
one which has stations in pretty much all of Kansai's major areas of
interest. The reason I opted for this private company was that,
though I had two changes to make to get to my destination, it was by
far the cheapest mode of transport. I therefore boarded my first
train within the centre of Nara and made my first 'change' five
minutes later. Twenty minutes after that and I had made my final
change. All that these changes had achieved, was to get me to the
southern edge of the city of Nara, <i>(the first train took me east
before the second train took me south)</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
ready to head south-west towards my goal for today; Ise. My final
train, though cheap, would take a whopping ninety minutes to arrive
at Ise train station.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">With
so much time I switched between looking outside and reading my
guidebook's entry about Ise. Though the Ise peninsular has been
dedicated as a national park, I am not that likely to find any peace.
The reason Ise is a national park is because it houses two shrine
sites – Ise-jingu (Gekpu) and Ise-jingu (Naikpu) – which are said
to be the home of the sun goddess Amaterasu, from whom it was once
believed that all Japanese Emperors are descended </span><i>(even
today, the Emperor and his family make offerings at these shrines)</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
Therefore Ise is what Mecca is to the Muslims, a pilgrimage which all
Japanese people try to do once in their life time. An average 6.5
million Japanese visitors visit the shrines each year - which are
rebuilt every twenty or so years in order to 'purify' the ground –
and, luckily for me, the new year is the number one time to make that
pilgrimage. I closed my guidebook. Japan's population is falling
dramatically; lots of people are at work. How busy can a shrine site
actually get?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">After
I'd finished reading my guidebook the obvious happened in regards to
public transport. Everyone within my carriage were minding their own
business when, through the door, came a chubby bloke with a read
face, ear muffs and two huge pieces of cotton wool stuck up his
nostrils so that his nose looked like a pigs. He was also trying to
mimic the sound of the train whilst talking to his imaginary friend.
Oh great; a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYYo49R_ZS0">nutter</a>! Luckily he sat at the other end of the carriage
from me and would mind his own business … for the majority of the
time. On occasions, out of nowhere, he would get up and approach a
group of girls, trying to shake their hands whilst saying 'bye, bye'
as the train was moving. As neither him nor the group of girls had
any intention of leaving it was all rather bizarre. Once, he almost
got left behind at a station when he, for some unknown reason,
decided to get off the train for a walk. As you can tell, along with
my music player and the view, he did provide some entertainment.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I
knew that we were getting close to Ise as the nutter couldn't sit
still. He paced up and down the carriage, not once thinking about
venturing forth into any of the other carriages. Once we had finally
arrived, I allowed him to depart well before I did. Once at the
ticket gate I was a little surprised that my cheap ticket was
accepted and I was allowed to pass unhindered. My first stop was the
local information office where I met a frosty looking lady who could
speak English. I told her that I was thinking of visiting the two
famous shrines before taking the train all the way to Kashikojima –
the final stop located at the bottom of this national park. According
to my map, the train line ran through the heart of the park
therefore, I thought the views would be good. Afterwards I would head
off home. </span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">She
first gave me the times for my train home before opening up a big map
of the city of Ise where she started to draw big circles – I've
noticed that tourist information people like to highlight and draw
circles – around the two famous shrines. She told me that the first
shrine was accessible by foot whereas, I'd better take a bus to the
second. She told me that there was a street near to the second shrine
– Okage-Yokocho – which, though very touristy, was lined with old
looking samurai buildings. Finally she gave me the train times to
Kashikojima however, she couldn't tell me when trains returned. I
thanked her before leaving the train station.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">How
busy can this place be? It would appear that all of Japan was
visiting Ise on this day. As it turned out, I really didn't need to
have gone into the tourist information office for information about
the shrines; the sheer amount of people – all heading in the same
direction – was a give away. I followed the crowds dodging through
them in order to get to the shrine as quickly as possible. Another
way I managed to save time was whenever a Japanese 'gate' came into
view. It would appear that, on this holiest of days, the Japanese
people must walk through the gate, bow, and then proceed on their
journey. This left the spaces on either sides of the gates free for
me to speed through and make up some ground. I finally made it to the
first temple – Gekpu – and was a little disappointed. Due to the
fact that all of the temples have to be rebuilt every twenty years or
so, the whole place looked brand new. There appeared to be little
history behind anything standing though, watching the people flock to
pray at these shrines was interesting. I took a few photos before
departing.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Once
I'd finished at the first shrine, I then wanted to get to the second
– Nakipu. The queue for the bus to this shrine was incredible; it
snaked around and around, occupying all the available space within
the bus station. Not looking forward to joining a queue longer than
some countries, I opened up my guidebook to see if it was at all
possible to walk. My guidebook stated that the Nakipu shrine was six
kilometres from Ise therefore, that was a 'no'. I therefore purchased
an over priced bus ticket and joined the end of the only queue on
Earth which could be seen from space. Once again, Japanese efficiency
pulled through and, even though the queue was massive, it didn't
actually take that long until I boarded a bus. Sadly though, it would
appear that the town of Ise had appealed for every bus within thirty
miles and this meant that all sorts of bus and coaches were lined up
ready to take people to the temple. The one I'd boarded was designed
in an age where people didn't have legs. I therefore sat
uncomfortably for the entire journey.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Six
kilometres my elbow! Though it took twenty minutes or so to get to
the temple, this was due to the sheer volume of traffic. As I looked
into the distance, a bus lane had been created by the police however,
there were so many buses and coaches that they practically touched
bumper-to-bumper all the way to the temple. Our driver must be
someone who 'feels the cold' as the heaters were turned up to full.
All-in-all I was glad when we finally departed. I got off the bus and
saw this huge mob of people waiting to walk over a wooden bridge
which would take then to 'shrine number two' – Naikpu.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
actual shrines within Naikpu were a lot like the shrines within Gepku
however, they were spread over a larger distance and were further
into the national park therefore, the surrounding vegetation was
extremely eye-catching. Some of the trees within this part of the
park were huge and went high into the sky. A river also ran through
the Naikpu site and this provided another opportunity for people to
throw away their money needlessly. Once I'd photographed the main
shrines I left the area however, I didn't return to the bus park.
Back over the bridge, and to my right, was the 'touristy' samurai
street which was lined with shops and filled with so many people that
most of them weren't actually moving. I decided to forgo this street
and opted to walk down one which, though running parallel, was
abandoned of all life. Once I'd proceeded halfway down this 'parallel
street', I went back onto the samurai street where I discovered that
the crowds had reduced because the there were no shops within this
part of the street. I decided to walk back to Ise, stopping at a
fast-food place for lunch – my first proper lunch of this trip!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Once
back in Ise the time was 1:30pm. Due to the numbers of people, it had
taken me four hours to see the two temple sites and now my trip to
Kashikojima was in jeopardy. I inquired into when the next train to
Kashikojima left and, a very helpful train attendant told me that it
was due to leave in ten minutes. He helped me buy a ticket and took
me to the platform in question where I just made it in time. Once sat
down, I did some maths. As the station attendant and I were running
to catch this train, he told me that it took an hour to get to
Kashikojima; that would get me there at 2:40pm. My train back home
left at 3:57pm meaning that, unless the train returned as soon as it
stopped, I was unlikely to catch my return train. I started to worry.
Though 4pm is still relatively early on any normal day, I currently
find myself within the middle of one of Japan's most important
holiday seasons therefore, things finish early. I wasn't worried
about getting back to Ise, I was worried about getting back to my
hotel in Nara. I was so worried that I thought about getting off the
train earlier and just abandoning the idea however, I did not. I
persevered with my plan though I found it hard to enjoy the journey
and concentrate on the activity I'd planned to do whilst on this
train … look out at the national park all around me. This actually
didn't matter. Though the train line ploughed through the centre of
this national park, it either did so through tunnels or with houses
very close to the lines. When I did get to see the land, it was
pretty barren and devoid of life due to the season. At some points I
did get to see the sea and that was very pretty indeed though, it
wasn't the prettiest coastline I've ever seen. The same too went for
the occasional mountain I could see. All-in-all the trip hadn't been
worth it and, to top it all, I was still worrying about getting my
train back to Nara.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I
never did step out of Kashikojima station. Once the train arrived, I
quickly ran through the ticket gate, bought a new ticket and
re-boarded. The train was scheduled to leave three minutes after it
had arrived and god knows when the next train was after that. Being
me I decided to play it safe. As the train pulled out at 2:43pm, I
could finally relax; I knew that it would take an hour to get back to
Ise and that left me a good fourteen minutes to catching my train
back to Nara. I was now beginning to relax however, that didn't help
the scenery become any more pleasing. Neither did the fact that
another nutter had now boarded and spent the whole journey swinging
left to right whilst looking out of the driver's window. Once again,
train noises seemed to be his thing.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">We
arrived three minutes late. I dashed through the ticket gate,
purchased my ticket for Nara and went back through the ticket
barriers to arrive at my platform two minutes before my train left.
Once boarded I sat down relieved. I had planned on trying to take a
different train – therefore a different route – home however, I'd
decided not to push my luck and so I had boarded a train which
followed the same route as I'd taken to Ise. Sitting on the seats in
front of me was a very young couple who were either starting their
holiday or just finishing it. I tried not to stare however, the girl
had such a beautiful smile it was difficult not to. It was warm and
filled with sincerity. She had a box of cakes which she couldn't wait
to open. She halved one and shared it with her boyfriend. Though the
scene is quiet a mundane one, there was something in her smile and
the way she couldn't wait to share her cake – she couldn't wait to
hear what her boyfriend thought – that made it so heart warming.
Though I'd seen a lot of praying this was the most genuine, and
beautiful, act I've witnessed throughout my entire trip. What did
spoil it a little was that the third nutter of the day </span><i>(are
they employed by the train company?) </i><span style="font-style: normal;">sat
down next to them shortly after they had finished their cake.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">After
ninety minutes I alighted the train. I then had to repeat this
mornings two train changes – but in the opposite order – to get
me into the centre of Nara. Once in Nara, I had wanted to go to the
bakery 'Vieda France' for a pastry dinner however, the store was only
open for another hour therefore, their stock was probably past it's
best. I therefore retired back to the restaurant I'd been to every
night so far and ordered a spaghetti bolognese with salad, soup and a
lovely hot bread roll. Afterwards I had a chocolate cake for dessert.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">With
dinner done I returned to my hotel where I told the owner all about
my day. I then planned how I was going to get to Osaka tomorrow
before I started to write this blog. So this ends my stay in Nara and
wow, hasn't it gone quickly. Tomorrow I shall be moving onto my final
stop of my 'Kansai tour' – Osaka – after which I will head home.
It's not fare … I save up for months on end to do these trips and
they go past in the blink of an eye. I can still remember my trip
around Himeji-jo as if it was yesterday. Someone, please stop the
clocks.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-39845882447132485892016-01-01T04:42:00.001-08:002016-01-01T04:42:29.370-08:00Money and Religion
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Friday 1<sup>st</sup> January 2016</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Another beautiful day with the sun shinning giving the sky a lovely
light blue colour. Small fluffy white clouds helped breakup the
monotony of the blue. The temperature was a lot higher than yesterday
meaning that I regretted wearing my jumper under my coat.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxmCCsMoD0">Money, money, money</a> - Abba</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis2reOBFcWFtD2aAcoAUAhgy4JrTCtcw9r-pXx7KycHMoDgMg1AsRnDYGniVxOd9McXfvFPedkqRzzRjJm-Z5EPy_BjE8hk_WFVoLy4ZSxBh1yDqbXR9mxnyVtnnsYPZMDNZQB8fyIiNsW/s1600/DSC_0009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis2reOBFcWFtD2aAcoAUAhgy4JrTCtcw9r-pXx7KycHMoDgMg1AsRnDYGniVxOd9McXfvFPedkqRzzRjJm-Z5EPy_BjE8hk_WFVoLy4ZSxBh1yDqbXR9mxnyVtnnsYPZMDNZQB8fyIiNsW/s320/DSC_0009.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">At
10:45pm, on the 31<sup>st</sup> December 2015, I turned my PC off and
went out into the night. Those of you who know me, will know that I
am in no way a night person. At night, groups of people decent on the
world and, fairly polite 'day people', turn into 'yobs' under the
cover of darkness. Even so, I did up my coat and marched east in the
direction of the shrine I was planning to visit tonight. Having been
within Nara's park during the day, I knew where I needed to go
without any help from a map. I proceeded east, ignoring the few
people that were gathering in groups around me. I had been told that
hundreds of people would be entering Nara's park tonight however, for
now at least, there were only a handful of small groups. As I got
closer to the shrine, things started to get livelier. Stores were
open, selling over-priced food and low-quality goods, all of which I
ignored. Though smaller in number, the deer were still roaming around
wondering what all of the fuss was about. Still they didn't seem to
mind; the people selling the 'deer biscuits' may have 'shut up shop',
but that didn't stop the jolly Japanese crowd from giving the deer a
selection of the over-priced food from the food stands.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Finally
I was on the uphill approach to Kasgua Taisha shrine. The time was
11:15pm and the temple was still shut. I therefore joined a queue –
I had no choice; the queue took over the whole pathway – which by
now was a good thirty rows deep with me at the back.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After
ten minutes the crowds had swelled so much that, even thirty rows
back, I was now considered to be 'at the front of the queue'. A
policeman on a loud speaker broadcast some safety announcements and
told everyone that the temple would open on the stroke of twelve.
Being a 'worrier', I moved to the edge of the queue which, though
slower, meant that I was next to the rope barrier and, once past
that, an embankment which I could climb up to save myself from any
potential stampede or if a panicked deer got caught in the crowds. I
did think about leaving the queue however, like I said, I was now
considered to be at the front and therefore, it would probably be
quicker to follow the process through than fight my way through a
hundred or so lines deep of people.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">With
a minute to go lights illuminated the pathway and I, for the first
time, could see the entirety of the crowd gathered. '5 … 4 … 3 …
2 … 1, hurray', a few Japanese people said. At this point most
people wished each other a happy new year before returning to
whatever they were doing in the queue before the new year struck. No
fireworks could be seen, no explosion of light; a rather mundane
opening to the new year, I thought.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Huge
groups of a hundred or so people were allowed into the shrine at a
time. I must have been part of the third or forth group to enter. You
have to give the organisers their dues; the system in place had been
well thought through. When it was my groups turn to enter the shrine,
the people before us had cleared the area in which people threw money
into a large trough before clapping their hands and praying for a
happy new year. Once done the Japanese people then proceeded into the
shrine's grounds and to the many shops selling all manner of charms
and religious 'mumbo jumbo'. I was fascinated as I watched people
moving from one shop to another buying these artefacts that, though
nice, would have little bearing on whether they have a good 2016 or
not. They then placed these artefacts within the temple grounds at
certain locations before praying, and then leaving. I too decided
that it was time to leave. I left following the organisers 'one-way
system' without spending a single Yen. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
I finally made it back to the path where I'd been queuing to get in,
the crowds were getting larger, not smaller. I went away trying to
calculate just how much money the temple would be making on this
night; it must run into the tens of millions of Yen. This is one of
my biggest problems with all major religions of the world. When it
comes down to it, most of them put emphasis on the fact that their
'savour', or God(s), is a poor man from a normal background, trying
to put the message across that doing good deeds is what gets you to
paradise / heaven and yet, though this 'humble background' is
important, the major religions of the world are some of the richest
businesses within the world – and they are businesses. The Vatican
City is one of the richest countries / principalities on earth. Why
is all this money needed? Why, when our 'savour' came to earth with
nothing, do these religions have more money deposited in their banks
than some of the poorest countries create in ten years. Why, if
helping the poor and needy is so detrimental to most of the biggest
religions core beliefs, is more money spent on their buildings, fine
garments and 'things' than is directed to the people who truly need
it. Religious organisations have a huge workforce which only require
'expenses'. They pressurise people into parting with their money in
return for salvation and yet, going to a temple / church / mosque and
praying is helping no one at all apart from making the person doing
the act feel good about themselves. I read an interesting quote on
Facebook the other day about the planet in which inhabit; <i>“... I
wish people would spend more time thinking about how to save our
planet than arguing how it was created...” </i>If all the people
here followed through with their festival but, instead of purchasing
talismans and charms, put their money towards helping the
environment, I wonder how much money could have been raised in Japan
alone, on one night. I don't have a problem with people who practice
in religion; I don't have a problem with people who believe in God.
Where my problem lies is with the money generated by these
businesses, for no other reason than to try and show the world that
'our little group <i>(be it Catholic, Muslim or Buddhist)</i> is best
because of all of our impressive buildings'. The money generated for
religious businesses is to show how powerful they are and nothing
else … and don't get me started on how many lives the main
religions have taken through conflict.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
you can probably tell, this trail of thought lasted for quite some
time; so much so that by the time I'd decided that the world would be
a much better place without any kind of religion <i>(oh and I want to
make clear that I believe 'religion' and 'God' are two totally
separate things. Religion is a set of rules CREATED BY MAN on how he
thinks God should be worshipped), </i><span style="font-style: normal;">I'd
made it back to my hotel. The time was 1am and so I went straight to
bed. As I was only planning on seeing four temples tomorrow – in
two different locations – an early start was not needed.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My
double bed, though comfortable, was quite weird. I'm not sure if it's
meant to be this way however, half of the bed seemed to have a firm
mattress whereas, the other half seems to be as soft as tissue.
Preferring a hard mattress, I slept on the right-hand side of the bed
however, when I rolled to my left during the night, it was as if I'd
rolled off the edge of a cliff as my body started to sink into the
soft half of the mattress. At 8:20am my alarm went off. I had a quick
shower before I got on with reading about where I would be going
today. The four temples I wanted to visit today all had astronomical
entry costs <i>(ranging from £5 to £9) </i><span style="font-style: normal;">therefore,
I decided that I would only actually enter one of the temples, and
peer through the entry gates of the other three. The temple I would
be paying to enter would be 'Horyu-ji'; an UNESCO World Heritage site
and home to the oldest wooden building on Earth. With that decided I
left my hotel but I didn't got to 'Vieda France' for breakfast.
Yesterday I'd managed to find a 'Mr Donuts' close to my apartment
and, due to being cheaper, I headed there instead. Once I'd consumed
three doughnuts I went to the train station and boarded a 'rapid'
train to Horyu-ji.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Horyu-ji
is located six kilometres out of Nara's city centre therefore, it
didn't take long to get there. Whilst waiting for my train at Nara's
main JR train station, I popped into the local tourist information
shop where I was presented with a very handy A4 map of Horyu-ji and
it's surrounding town. Whilst on the train I noticed that the town,
not only held Horyu-ji temple, but it also had one of the other
temples I wanted to 'peer into' today – Chugu-ji – plus another
two temple sites and four small ponds. I designed a circular walking
route which allow me to see all of these 'attractions', ending up at
Horyu-ji. Once off the train I had a twenty minute walk towards the
town in beautiful sunshine and blazing heat, which I'd never
experienced in December before. After a good four kilometres or so
I'd made it to the first temple where I took a photo of it's outer
walls, with it's inner buildings leering over the top. I did the same
at the next temple before I walked past all four of the 'ponds'. The
word 'pond' is not how I'd describe them. Man-made holes filled with,
what can only be described as sewage and stagnant water, half filled
a few of these 'ponds' with the others bone dry. I therefore
by-passed these without stopping to take a photograph.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Chugu-ji
was next on my list. This was one of the three temples on today's
'peer into' list. It was famous because it held artwork showing a
Buddha entering Nirvana … so, just like every other temple though,
apparently, this artwork was 'special'. After a couple of photos I
left the ticket lady standing and proceeded onto Horyu-ji where I
stopped, open mouthed, at the entrance. 1,500 Yen! £9 to enter a
stupid old UESCO temple! I couldn't believe it. I wasn't the only one
stood looking at the women within the ticket office, wondering how
they could call themselves 'religious people'. I sat down and quickly
scanned my guidebook; this was the temple with the oldest wooden
building on the planet. I did really want to see that. I therefore
paid the ridiculous entry cost but I wasn't happy about it. I don't
think a place like this should be free however, I don't think it
should be making a huge profit either. I therefore used the most
minimum amount of Japanese possible – and choose words which
weren't in their most polite form – and at some points I choose not
to speak at all; all in order to show my disgust.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Once
inside the temple grounds I did something I haven't done that often
before and, honestly, I don't know why. Usually, when walking around
an attraction, I would have read my guidebook beforehand, and then
put it away favouring having my camera in my hands at all times. This
time I had my guidebook open and read it as I toured the site. It was
like I had my own personal tour guide and do you know what; it was
fantastic. My guidebook had just enough information to allow me to
see all of the important things, but not too much information so that
I would get bored. Due to my guidebook's age, certain exhibits had
been rearranged meaning that the monks on patrol probably witnessed
the strangest route, around their temple grounds, taken by any
foreigner who had entered. There were signs restricting access and
asking for no photos within certain areas; I ignored these requests
to some degree given the colossal entry fee. </span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">My
guidebook allowed me to pick out a few interesting details in some of
the temple's artwork. Actually, by now I was starting to enjoy
myself. The oldest wooden building in the world was pretty
spectacular. Though it looked like most other wooden temple
buildings, knowing that it was built in the late seventh century gave
it a special feel. The five-storey pagoda next to it was different to
most other pagodas I've seen due to the fact that you could actually
see into it and behold it's carvings – what the carvings showed, I
wasn't 100% sure.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I'd
spent over an hour within Horyu-ji, and just over two within it's
surrounding area. Would I say that the temple was worth it's entry
cost? I certainly would not however, it is nice to say that I've now
seen the world's oldest wooden building – it had better not catch
fire any time soon.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Once
Horyu-ji had been seen, I went back to the train station and caught
the next train bound for Nara however, I got off two stops earlier at
Koriyama. My final two temples – Yakushi-ji and Toshodai-ji –
were just under a two kilometre walk away to the north. Once there
the hefty entry costs kept me out, though one of the temples was
scheduled to have a painting of Kissho-ten - the goddess of peace,
happiness and beauty - on display </span><i>(it only goes on display
for four weeks in the year)</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
Once again I peered through the entry gates; the crowds of Japanese
people entering to pray for a good new year bought me ample time to
take a few photos.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">After
these last two temples had been visited, I decided to forget the
train and to walk a further two kilometres back into the heart of
Nara. The sun was starting to set though it was still pretty hot. By
this time my feet were aching and my mind was just on a continual
loop of 'what I would order tonight from the same restaurant I'd
visited yesterday'. It isn't the distance which had crushed my feet
and my energy, it's the surface in which I've had to walk over today.
I hate paved roads as there is little 'give' as your foot smashes
down onto it.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Finally,
heroically, I stumbled into the restaurant I'd visited yesterday and
sat at the first empty table I could find. This time I ordered a
pizza with a side of chips and, once again, unlimited drinks. I must
have been more tired than I thought as I also, for some unknown
reason, ordered a salad as a side dish. Once everything had been
consumed I ordered a strawberry parfait for dessert before leaving
the restaurant. I then bought breakfast for tomorrow before returning
to my hotel where the owner provided me with yet more useful
information for my 'day trip' tomorrow.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">So
tomorrow I will be getting up early and taking a train – with two
changes – to Ise; a national park at the bottom of Mie prefecture
and, according to Shinto beliefs, is where Japan actually started.
Within this park are two temples – oh goodie; both are free though
– and a huge forested area. Once there I have no idea what I am
going to do. There is a train line which runs all the way through the
park so that sounds like a good way of seeing a lot in the little
time I have. One things is for sure though; even though I'll be going
to a national park, I will be trying to give my feet a well earned
rest. </span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-56550510486453288352015-12-31T04:15:00.001-08:002015-12-31T04:15:43.151-08:00Nara
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Thursday 31<sup>st</sup> December 2015</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Another beautiful day with the sun shinning giving the sky a lovely
light blue colour. Small fluffy white clouds helped breakup the
monotony of the blue. At 4:30pm the skies darkened and a few drops of
rain fell but nothing too bad.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rId95N2teUc">Auld lang Syne</a> - BBC Synphony chorus and singers</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB4GSAq1ZXzOiXEjdDg1YhSIzqzV3mEXBAzJdkFxi88-rjHnqSly5D_uLylLtrl1CN45PYqpuMhatT05xV-7rc9nD5_hVc5DLW-cXvW6sjt8aIHwfZ_QKL7ER94EoJDfVlIYafeQq6qzmo/s1600/DSC_0690.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB4GSAq1ZXzOiXEjdDg1YhSIzqzV3mEXBAzJdkFxi88-rjHnqSly5D_uLylLtrl1CN45PYqpuMhatT05xV-7rc9nD5_hVc5DLW-cXvW6sjt8aIHwfZ_QKL7ER94EoJDfVlIYafeQq6qzmo/s320/DSC_0690.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ironically,
I woke up pretty late considering it was my check-out day. Before
checking-out, I went for breakfast at McDonald's. I didn't want to.
This was my forth McDonald's breakfast in a row and I'd had my fill
of their food. I begrudgingly ordered another sausage muffin, after
which I begrudgingly paid the amount asked for. Finally I
begrudgingly ate the thing I'd purchased hoping above all hope that
in Nara, there was another place that I could get breakfast from.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
muffin felt like a stone within my stomach as I walked back to my
B+B. I checked out and thanked the staff for their help – the woman
working there was lovely. I then proceeded to Kyoto's train station
and caught the next express to Nara. At first the train was packed
however, after the first three stops everyone still on-board could
get a seat. I opened my guidebook and read about the city which I
would be heading to next. Nara was Japan's first real capital city
therefore, it consists of quite a few temples within one huge park
and … well … not a lot else. There was an 'old city quarter'
which I decided that I would visit to break-up the 'temple viewing'.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Only
fifty minutes later and I'd arrived in Nara. Immediately after I
progressed through the ticket barrier my heart – and my stomach –
leaped. In front of me was a 'Vieda France' <i>(a bakery)</i>. Though
slightly expensive, if I could choose anywhere to have breakfast in
Japan, this was it. Even after a couple of hours I could tell that my
stomach was still having difficulty digesting the McDonald's muffin
therefore, for the next three days at least, I had another
alternative. I then proceeded east from the station towards Nara's
park and, more importantly, my hotel. On the way I found a place for
dinner and so things were looking-up on the food front. In fact, I
hadn't seen a McDonald's since I'd arrived; I was beginning to like
this city.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
hotel in which I will be staying in is the most expensive hotel of
this trip. Three nights here cost more than the four nights I had in
Kyoto. Still, looking at the building I could see why; the whole
place seemed shiny new. I was met at the door by, I guess, the owner.
He was a young Japanese man with his hair in a ponytail. Putting that
aside, he was charming. He took my bags and asked what my plan was
for today. We spoke in Japanese and he produced a map which I could
take with me free of charge. He then told me that, because today was
New Year's eve, the main temples which I wanted to see would be open
at midnight and, best of all, they would be free to enter. I'm not
sure if it's the backpacker in me but, I still always jump at the
chance of seeing things for free. After I'd calmed down, I realised
that this wasn't going to be as good as it sounded. The temples were
free so that the people of Nara could welcome in the New Year; this
would mean that, as the clock struck twelve, the place would be full
of people and I wouldn't be able to see a thing <i>(plus decent
photos would be difficult)</i>. The hotel owner agreed; we decided
together that I should see one of the two main temples during the day
– either Todai-ji or Kasuga Taisha temple – and leave the other
for my night visit. It was easy to choose which was for when.
Todai-ji is Nara's most famous temple; it holds the world's largest
wooden building and Japan's largest Buddha statue. I would therefore
head to Todai-ji now, and leave Kasuga Taisha for later. With that
decided I left my bags, said thank you to the owner and headed out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">With
my hotel being in the centre of Nara's 'old quarter', I decided to
roam the streets of that for fifteen minutes or so. Once done I ended
up just to the south of Nara's park. Facing me was the first temple
of the day – Kofuku-ji – and it's dominating five-storey pagoda.
This temple was owned by the Fujiwara clan and was deemed extremely
important … until the family fell out of favour with the emperor.
Today, the pagoda and one of the temples were 'photo worthy' however,
the main building is under intense renovation and won't be open until
2018! I therefore decided not to pay to enter this temple.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
continued east through the park where I encountered more than just
crowds of people and food stalls. Nara's park is home to hundreds of
wild deer whom have lived here for around a 1,000 years. My guidebook
said that they were allowed to roam free however, when my guidebook
used the word 'free', I still thought that there were some barriers
or restrictions. There are not. Seriously, if a deer fancied doing a
bit of sightseeing before heading into town for food and to catch a
train to Kyoto, there was nothing in place to stop it. Even though
the deer had their antlers cut off, I still didn't like moving in
between them encase of scaring them. What made this worse was that,
people were encouraged to feed the deer due to the fact that 'deer
biscuits' <i>(which have been made specifically for deer) </i><span style="font-style: normal;">could
be purchased almost anywhere within the park. The deer knew this and
hunted out anyone with their hands near their pockets or bags, or
small children as they must have learnt that these were signs that
they were about to get food </span><i>(people would pull these 'deer
biscuits from their bags or coat pockets plus, a lot of children were
encouraged by their parents to feed the deer). </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Personally
I believe that the deer have the same right as we do to the grounds
therefore, they should be allowed to roam free however, I do feel
that the feeding of said deer should only be allowed within certain
areas. I had hoped that there was a 'deer free' path to Todai-ji
however, there wasn't.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">As
I approached Todai-ji, it was impossible to hide the main wooden
building behind it's outer-gate; it was so huge. The sun was shining
and the sky was blue therefore, I stopped to take numerous photos of
the building from the outside, before paying £2.50 to go and see
what the inside of the world's largest wooden building looked like.
The crowds weren't too bad and I was able to find ample room to stare
up in wonder at the fifteen meter tall Buddha in front of me. Though
made out of bronze, it was actually black in colour and had to be
cast several times before it came out right. I've seen so much
Buddhist stuff now that I usually pay my entrance fee, walk in, say
'wow', take a few photos and then leave however, this was something
else. The sheer size of the thing, flanked by two golden Buddha's
made it 'awe worthy'. As usual I still photographed the thing to
death however, after, I put my camera away and just looked up in awe
at the thing and the building in which it was housed. This put a big
smile on my face.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Once
out I realised that nothing else today could really compare to
Todai-ji. I tried not to compare however, it was quite hard not to.
Having seen around fifteen temples in the last five days I am quite
'templed out' therefore, for the rest of the day I only visited the
grounds of the temples which required you to pay to enter. I did
however enter the free temples. One such free temple is called
Nigatsu-do, which was located up a long set of steps therefore, it
provided good views of the city of Nara. Both Sangatsu-do and
Kaidan-in required payment so I therefore took a cheeky photo at the
gates of both before leaving. A small museum called 'Shoso-in' was
closed for the holidays therefore, this finished the north of the
park. I then decided to head south through the leafy mountainside
towards tonight's temple; Kasuga-Taisha. The one thing I do love
about Japanese Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines is that they are
always placed within Nature. Usually on a mountainside or in a
forest, they truly are places of peace.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Once
I reached Kasuga-Taisha, I took some photos of the outside and it's
courtyard, which included a view of a long line of bronze hanging
lanterns which this temple is famous for. As luck would have it, it
appeared that no-one could enter the temple as either a private
'thing' was happening, or it was getting ready for the festivities.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Once
I'd photographed the temple grounds to death, I continued south until
I left the park entirely. I proceeded to another temple called 'Shin
Yakushi-ji' were I peered through the outer-gate, to have a look, as
there was a £2.50 admission charge. With the photography museum next
door closed for the holidays there was little else to do within this
area and so I returned to Nara's park. By now my feet were tired but
I kept going and proceeded past three lakes before finding a bench
within the centre of the park close to Nara's national museum. The
time was 3:30pm and so I had time to look around the museum however,
my guidebook didn't give it the best of reviews. It stated that the
museum 'was best for it's temporary exhibits however, there was a
large collection of statues from the area displayed in chronological
order'. After identifying that the current temporary exhibit was
about paintings from some period within Japan's history, I decided
that I'd seen enough paintings and I'd certainly seen enough statues.
I therefore decided to give it a miss and, after five hours of
continual walking around Nara's park, I left it fully satisfied that
I'd seen everything that I wanted to. I was also extra happy because,
on the way to Kasuga-Taisha temple I'd popped into a shop and bought
a 'Kokeshi doll' which I thought looked stunning. The shop's owner
was lovely and we had a chat for a few minutes. It was now time to
get this doll back to my hotel safely however, before that, I stopped
very close to my hotel at a chain restaurant. The time was now 4:30pm
and the restaurant was deserted apart from a couple of students
trying to study and a man who continually sniffed. Having not had
lunch I combined the money I'd saved for lunch and dinner and ordered
a lovely steak with rice, unlimited drinks, soup and a chocolate cake
for dessert. As I was eating this lot, I managed to put away one coke
and three cups of hot chocolate. The interesting thing was is that,
back at the museum, I'd popped into their café to see what was on
sale because, I was so tired and hungry. A café is a backpackers
worst enemy because they are a total luxury. They serve no real
purpose; they don't fill you up and they certainly aren't cheap. They
allow you to have a luxurious break from a days sightseeing and
charge you a fortune in the process. The museum's café in particular
would have charged me 500 Yen for a single drink and here I was, in
my restaurant, having paid 300 Yen for as many drinks as I'd like. I
was glad that I hadn't succumb to the temptation of the café.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">As
I was eating my meal the sky darkened and the rain poured down
however, when I left the restaurant, the worst of the rain had
passed. Being close to the train station I went there in search of
information for a 'day trip' I wanted to do in two days time but
alas, the information office had already closed. Due to it being new
year, I was unable to hire a car for my stay in Nara. I still want to
head out into the country therefore, I want to take a train to the
south of 'Mie prefecture' to a town called 'Ise'. Ise is the gate to
the 'Ise-Shima National Park' and I quite fancied spending the day
around there. Still, tomorrow I have to come back to the station so I
could ask then.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Before
heading back to my hotel I popped into a local convenience store to
buy a few supplies for my stay. I had almost reached my hotel when I
noticed that I had lost one of my gloves; I back-tracked and found it
lying on the pavement – and looking very sad – outside said
convenience store. I picked it up and returned to my hotel.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">My
room, though sparse, is very modern and has a big double bed. I also
have an en-suite bathroom which looks as though I am the first one to
use it. Seriously, the whole place looks brand new. I chatted once
again to the owner of the hotel and told him my plans for my stay
here. He showed me to my room before departing. Ten minutes later he
knocked on my door. During those ten minutes, he had been on his PC
and printed me out train times for my planned trip to 'Ise'. He was
concerned that, when I returned to the train information office
tomorrow, that they would advise me to buy an expensive ticket. He
had found a super cheap ticket though, I do have to change twice
during my journey. I thanked him a lot and he left me in peace.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">So
I'm now just chilling and waiting for midnight. I shall return to the
park where I hope to see another Japanese new year come in. I shall
then return to my hotel and make full use of my huge bed to have a
wonderful sleep. Tomorrow I can afford to sleep in a little, as I
only have four temples – within two areas – on my itinerary.
Happy New Year everyone!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-91054358711777281302015-12-30T04:09:00.000-08:002015-12-30T04:09:50.196-08:00Japan's third beauty spot
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Wednesday 30<sup>th</sup> December 2015</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Due to travelling through quite a mountainous area, I had everything
from bright sunshine to a few flakes of snow. For the main part of
the day, I had a lot of clouds with a few breaks where the sun, and a
beautiful blue sky, could shine through.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV1_7R_3cXA">Driving in my car</a> - Madness</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
got up earlier than I had on any previous day of my holiday so far; I
got ready and left my accommodation at 7am. This, I thought, gave me
enough time to go to my local McDonald's for breakfast before
back-tracking, past my B+B, towards my car hire place. I planned to
get there for 8am sharp. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
I approached my local McDonald’s, I noticed that it was quite dark
inside. On further inspection I read that they didn't open until 8am.
I back-tracked past my B+B and, as luck would have it, there was
another McDonald’s – which was open - on my way to my car rental
place.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A
sausage muffin later and I was raring to go. Once again I couldn't
have been more ready; I'd eaten breakfast plus I'd bought plenty of
snacks. The only problem was, that I had arrived at my car hire place
at 7:50am. I therefore walked past and onto a bridge where I took a
couple of 'okay' photos before proceeding back to the hire shop.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
manager of 'Times Rental' looked the part however, he didn't seem to
act it. I understood that the shop opened at 8am however I would have
expected that, given that I'd said that I would arrive at 8am sharp,
for all of my paperwork to be ready and waiting to be signed; just
like at the Times Rental shop in Kobe. It wasn't. The guy lifted
piles of paper here, there and everywhere. He went into the back
office and finally found the paperwork to match my car. Next he had
trouble using his own PC as he tried to input my details. The final
act of 'professionalism' came when I got in my car, turned the
ignition key and noticed that the fuel gauge wasn't showing full. A
lot of apologises later, and the lady at the garage quickly took my
hire car to be properly filled whereas I, negotiated another thirty
minutes of free hire for the inconvenience. The car itself was
lovely; it was the 'Nissan Dayz' - the car I used to drive when I
taught English in Miyako. I was therefore able to set my driving
position up quickly and, given all of the problems, I actually left
the garage earlier than I'd left the garage in Kobe.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Being
early in the morning, I found it quite easy to leave the city. I
headed east along 'route 1' before transferring onto the '161' which
allowed me to quickly, and effectively, head north as fast as
possible leaving the busy south behind. Not only was the '161' a very
effective road for getting me out of the south's traffic, it also
followed the 'Biwa' lake's western coastline. At 670.4 km2, this is
Japan's largest freshwater lake. The road I'd chosen was a free
highway therefore, with a speed limit of 50 miles an hour it was
probably not the best choice of road to be do a little 'car
sightseeing' from however, the road was elevated and so actually, I
got some excellent views of the water and it's coastline. Due to the
weather being clear, you could just make out the lake's other
mountainous coast. With nothing on the road I slowed a little and
enjoyed the view.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
I'd travelled all the way up the lakes coastline, I then took the
'303' west, through some spectacular mountainous scenery where I
caught my first glimpses of snow. I had wondered if the guy at 'Times
Garage' had indeed fitted the car with winter types however, it was
too late to worry about that now and, fortunately, there wasn't any
snow on the road; just on the sides of the surrounding mountains.
Once through I continued west along the '27' for quite a while. Last
night, as I was planning my route, I had thought that this part of
the journey would have been quite spectacular. I was heading west
with Kansai's northern coastline filling my view however, due to all
of the small settlements along this part of my route, I couldn't
concentrate as much as I would have liked on sightseeing as I had to
contemplate with other road users, traffic lights and pedestrians. On
quite a few occasions, 'views' had been removed in favour of
'functionality' however, when a decent view with a car park came
around, I stopped the car to take a few photos.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Finally
I came to the point where the '27' left Kansai's northern coastline
and headed back south. I therefore changed onto the '175' for a short
while before once again heading north on the '178'. This road –
once through a few more coastal towns - would lead me to my actual
destination for the day; Amanohashidate Bay. By my reckoning, it was
only another twenty or so minutes up the road. The time was already
past 11 O'clock therefore, I couldn't wait to get there.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Amanohashidate
is one of Japan's three most beautiful spots; or so the Japanese say.
The other two are Miya-jima <i>(close to Hiroshima … which I have
been to) </i>and Matsushima <i>(which is a twenty minute train ride
from my apartment). </i>It should have been no surprise that the
traffic increased as I got closer. Moving at the same speed as an
asthmatic ant with heavy shopping, I watched time tick by. It was
getting close to 1pm; the halfway point in my car hire. To get here,
I'd gone a convoluted way in order to see Biwa lake - and Kansai's
northern coast - however, I still felt as though I would have to
leave by 2pm at the latest to get my car back on time. With that in
mind I decided that, instead of searching for the cheapest parking, I
would park wherever I could find a space as time was currently more
important that money. Having said that, some places were charging
£8.00 for parking! Luckily, as those parking spots were the closest
to the 'wonder', they were all full. A little further down the road
and an old woman signalled for me to pull into her empty piece of
land. She was charging £4.00 for the day however, I wasn't sure if
it was entirely legal. She had no signs of any sort; just an unused
piece of land with lines drawn on to make car parking spaces. The
Japanese family – who had entered the car park at the same time as
I – were also a little apprehensive; for all we knew, they weren't
even her car parking spaces to loan. I didn't have time to argue. I
paid the amount and quickly read my guidebook.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Amanohashidate
is considered one of Japan's three most beautiful spots because it
has a natural ribbon of beautiful beaches – and beaches are hard to
find along the main islands coastline - which act as a 'bridge'
between two parts of the mainland making a small natural harbour. At
either end my guidebook stated that there were shrines to see and, if
you have time, a cable car which will whisk you halfway up a mountain
to another shrine with good views of the area. I'd spent the last two
days seeing shrines and, tomorrow I shall be heading to Nara to see
even more shrines. I therefore closed my guidebook content on missing
all shrines within this area and just walking up and down this
natural ribbon of beach. At 2.6km long, walking up and down is
probably all I had time for.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
I had to go back the way I'd come, I decided to walk along the
eastern beaches, close to the water, returning through a line of
trees on the opposite side. The sand, though difficult to maintain
any decent speed on, was beautiful and white. It was met by some
beautiful clear waters which lapped rhythmically along the coast.
Once I'd walked a good kilometre from my starting point the crowds
had pretty much disappeared and I was on my own to enjoy this small
piece of paradise on Japan's northern coast. As for a view, mountains
could be seen in the distance but, unfortunately, unsightly small
towns were in between the mountains and the waterfront. Some of the
buildings, which I could see across the water, were very unsightly
and this is why, though Amanohashidate is very pretty – and white
sand is a rarity here -I still wouldn't class it, or Matsushima, as
the best beauty spots in Japan. If the Japanese government asked me
where the three most beautiful places are in Japan, I'd have to say
that Miya-jima <i>(near Hiroshima), </i>Taketomi-jima <i>(Okinawa)
</i>and Shrietoko-go <i>(Hokkaido) </i>would have been my three
choices. This was nice, just spoilt by the development. Once I'd
finished my beach walk I proceeded back through the long line of
trees which covered the western bank of this ribbon of land. Though
not as impressive, the trees did make for a nice change of scenery
however, I had to dodge the many tourists who had hired bikes for the
day – good thing about sand; no bikes!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
I'd finished my walk, the time was approaching 1:30pm. With nothing
else taking my fancy I headed back to the car glad that I had
ventured out this far however, slightly disappointed that this place
had been given the recognition that so many other beautiful spots in
Japan deserved. I got back in my car and left my 'dodgy car park'
<i>(which was now full)</i>. I made it back onto the '178' however,
instead of going back the way I'd come, I decided to take the '176'
south. This would connect to the '9' which would, pretty much, lead
me all the way to the rental garage and make a nice loop of a trip. I
once again headed back into Kansai's mountainous centre, through
small towns and villages with their crop fields bare. At one point, I
travelled along a bit of road I'd travelled along four days ago and I
identified where I'd turned to head back to Kobe. Unlike my journey
up, the '176' and '9' where quite heavy in terms of traffic. For most
of the journey it was fine, as we all seemed to be going the same
speed however, for quite a while, I stuck behind an old 'IDIOT' going
27 miles an hour. A queue of vehicles longer than the grand canyon
formed up behind me and him. After only four minutes of travelling
behind him did I – and everyone else stuck – unanimously agree
that he should be the first candidate for my 'relocation of old
peoples act'. After what seemed like an 'age', he slowly turned off
allowing me to complete my journey in some sort of piece.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
I approached Kyoto, the traffic behaved in a different way as to that
heading to Kobe. When I returned to Kobe, I travelled almost freely
until I entered almost grid-lock. Once I'd moved only 'inches at a
time' for thirty minutes or so, I was free to continue my journey
unhindered. Here I never found myself in grid-lock though, I kept a
steady speed of just less than 30 miles an hour for what seemed like
ages. It was during this period that I tried to decide what I
preferred; prolonged pain or a short period of utter agony. Neither
would be my first choice.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After
filling up my car with fuel I returned it in the same fashion as I'd
found it. I did not see the man in the suit; this time a lady took my
keys and said all was fine. I then walked back to my B+B where I
dropped off my bag before going back to the tempura restaurant I'd
visited two nights ago. Whilst tucking into my meal I wondered if I'd
done the right thing in regards to these two car hires. On the one
hand, if I'd instead hired the car on two constitutive days – and
booked one less night in Kyoto and one more in Kansai's northern
parts – then I would have been able to spend more time sightseeing
and less time worrying about what time I had to return my car. On the
other hand though, having these 'driving days' has been a nice break.
I've had one day of travel, followed by two days of walking around a
city followed by one day of car travel repeated. It is really nice to
break up the temple viewing days with a day doing something totally
different.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
back at my B+B I looked through my photos and checked my emails. I
would say that today has been a great success; I'd seen the lake,
Kansai's northern coast and Amanohashidate … plus driven around a
bit more. I had achieved all I'd wanted to, even if the day had been
a bit of a rush. Tomorrow I will get up a little later than normal,
have breakfast and then checkout of my B+B. Tomorrow I would be
heading to a city which I haven't visited before … tomorrow I will
be in Nara!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-40405674624324220062015-12-29T03:49:00.000-08:002015-12-29T03:49:33.525-08:00The old versus the young
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Tuesday 29<sup>th</sup> December 2015</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Once again it was quite cold in Kyoto however, the sun was shining
brightly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWm8-jlddaw">A small measure of peace</a> – The last Samurai</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Today,
I did indeed need my alarm to wake me up. As soon as it started
ringing I was up like a flash to turn it off. I then paused a second;
it sounded as though I hadn't woken anyone else up in the process.
Still, not that I cared; last night the couple to my left were
talking until 11pm.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
got ready and left my accommodation at around 7:30am. Fortunately, my
first temple of the day stood facing me and - though handy it is
still quite crazy - it opened at 6:20am. I was therefore able to
wander inside the temple grounds getting a few 'people free' photos
with all of the other 'early bird' photographers. The temple was
called 'Higashi-Hongan-ji' and it looked just like a lot of other
temples I have already seen. I made a brief stop at it's brother –
'Nishi-Hongan-ji' - and took a couple of photos there too. Out of the
two, Nishi was the prettiest only because Higashi was under intense
reconstruction. After this I stopped in another McDonald's to eat
breakfast.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It
was still pretty early therefore, instead of getting the train to my
third stop, I decided to walk. Looking at my map, the temple was less
than a half an hour walk away and I quite fancied a stroll within a
part of the city I haven't seen before. In order to get there though,
I had to cross one man-made structure, and one natural one. First up
were Kyoto's many train lines. Fortunately a road bridge – with a
tiny pedestrian footpath on either side – took me safely across all
of them. Next up, another road bridge took me across the 'Kamo'
river. Once again a minuscule footpath was presented to me and so I
kept walking, with my coat almost scratching the bridge's dirty wall.
Of course, due to the time of day, pedestrian traffic was light. A
cyclist came up behind me however, before trying to get around me,
she dismounted and walked past me as I hugged the wall. Two minutes
later and, in the distance, I could see something closing in fast. It
wasn't a pedestrian … or a cyclist. My eyes widened. It was my
nemesis, the thing a hate the most; an old lady riding a mobility
scooter. I'm not sure what speed she was doing but, a part from going
faster than the cars on the road, her speed was totally inappropriate
for the walkway we found ourselves on. Naturally, I am sure she was
expecting me to jump out of the way as she was old. I did not. With
only feet between us she hadn't slowed and neither had she moved up
as close to the bridge wall as she could. By a cats whisker we missed
each other however, my camera bag hit her mobility scooter. I
proceeded a little further onwards and took a few photos to make sure
that all was fine. She had also stopped and was beckoning me to come
back. I did not. I knew it wasn't to check if I was okay. Instead she
reversed – and hit the bridge's wall in the process … karma - and
started to have a go at me for hitting her mobility scooter. I lost
it. I told her exactly what I thought of her mobility scooter, the
speed in which she was travelling and 'her' in a mix of English and
Japanese. Fortunately I remembered the word for 'idiot' in Japanese
and I used it as if I may never have a valid reason to use it again.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
pretended that incident hadn't upset me … but it had. I don't like
confrontation, and especially when I was being accused of 'being in
the wrong' when I wasn't <i>(Just to note that I wasn't in the right
either; I could have moved out of the way and waited, but then again
so could she)</i>. It was as I was walking to my third temple for the
day that I once again thought of my brilliant 'workhouse' idea for
children. Wouldn't it be great if every nation in the world had an
island for old people where they had to go as soon as they had become
a misery to society. It could be like a drivers licence; they would
get points for every incident - like the one I'd just encountered -
and then, after say three incidents, off they went to the island of
their countries choice <i>(Isle of White for us I think).</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I'd
just put the finishing touches to the 'Rehousing of senior citizens
act' when I came across my first proper site for the day. Tofuku-ji
is another Buddhist temple complex located within the south-east of
Kyoto. It comprises of many different areas with many different
buildings however, only two areas were open to the public and both
needed a separate ticket. Though I paid to enter both areas I was a
little reluctant to do so. I do not believe that, just because these
are places of 'god', that everyone should be allowed to wander around
for free however, I also do not believe that places like this should
be allowed to fleece you of all of your money. I felt somewhat
aggrieved in having to pay for two tickets to what was essentially
the same temple however, just like every other tourist, I did so for
fear of missing out on something excellent.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
first ticket allowed me to enter some gardens with a long wooden
bridge. Though these were very pleasant indeed, being winter most of
the trees were without flower therefore, I could not help thinking
that it would be nicer in the spring or autumn. The pathways crossed
a small stream and meandered through a flowerless garden until I
reached another temple area. This had a rock / moss garden and was
very pretty. The garden was split into two, with the moss on the
right of a walkway leading to the main temple, and the rock garden on
the left. Water was flowing through and over the moss. On the other
side the gravel around the rocks had been raked in to perfect 'meter
squared' squares making it look a little like a patchwork quilt. It
looked so undisturbed that I was very eager to disturb it by stepping
on it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
other ticket took me to another rock garden. By now I have paid
£2.40, on three separate occasions, to see what is effectively raked
gravel around some stones though, I have to say, that I liked this
garden more than the others. The reason for this was because of the
art of 'borrowed scenery'. As you looked at the garden, in the
background were the sides and roofs of the other temples making this
garden feel very Japanese. I topped up on the 'zen' I'd lost in my
confrontation with 'mobility grandma' before I left the site. In
order to really get back on track with my 'wing and wang', I also
very kindly got out of the way for an old person who wanted to take a
photograph. After he'd finished I retraced my steps and went back to
what I was looking at before. Did I get a thank you … no! Off to
the Isle of White with you sir!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">With
Tofuku-ji's raked gravel seen I was ready to leave. I headed towards
the train station to continue my journey south towards the next
temple - Fushimi-Inari. On my way to the train station I saw a sign
which read that the train station was only an eight minute walk away
to the north. I was just about to walk off when I saw another sign
which said that the Fushimi-Inari shrine was only a fifteen minute
walk to the south. After doing some quick maths I realised that it
would, probably, be quicker to just walk there instead of faffing
around with trains. Though my feet were a little disheartened, they
understood the logic and led me onwards.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Though
my guidebooks review of Fushimi-Inari put it in an exciting light, it
was hidden in between all of Kyoto's other sites and temples. What's
more, the temple isn't actually mentioned on the guidebook's map of
Kyoto therefore, I was expecting something quite small and unheard
of. What I got was a bustling festival scene with every approach to
the temple site manned by shops and stalls getting ready for the new
year. The actual temple of Fushimi-Inari was nice; with it's
beautiful bright red beams and white walls however, this wasn't
Fushimi's main attraction. This was once again a temple site however,
the other temples lay all over a mountain which the temple backed
onto. Along the four kilometres of connecting path, were over 10,000
<i>tori </i>gates. Yes! 10,000 or so red Japanese <i>tori</i> gates.
Each one has been donated by some Japanese business as an offering to
gain luck in business. In some places, the <i>tori </i>are so close
together that they almost formed a tunnel; blocking out all sunlight.
To call this place beautiful would be an understatement <i>(I urge
you to click onto my Flickr account and checkout the photos).</i>
10,000<i> </i>traditional bright red gates located on a mountain
Buddhist temple site is something to marvel at. Due to being the
holidays – and the fact that there was no admission charge – the
crowds were enormous to began with however, as the climb up the
mountain got more tiresome, the crowds started to thin. With so many
people, getting shots of the <i>tori </i>without anyone present was
going to be impossible. I had however, tried to get out of the way of
anyone wishing to take a photo and do you know what; a lot of the
young people I moved out of the way for said 'thank you'. A Japanese
couple said thank you to me and, when I replied in Japanese, we
actually had a short conversation. They were a lovely couple and were
on their holidays. The guy's sister is currently studying in England
however, where, he can't remember. It was during this conversation
that I tried to slip my lens cap back onto my camera. I wasn't really
paying attention. As I was talking the lens cap popped off my camera
and rolled away into the undergrowth never to be seen again. The
Japanese couple seemed concerned however, knowing that a new one
would only cost a couple of pounds, I was more annoyed with the fact
that I had, unintentionally, littered within this beautiful place.
Also, I have had that lens cap since I purchased my camera; it has
been with me around the world therefore I was a little sad. I
therefore decided to think of it as an 'offering', for the protection
of all photographers all over the world. I then got on with
photographing the rest of the mountain.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">When
the climb got tough, I said goodbye to the Japanese couple and
continued onwards. The Japanese red <i>tori </i>were still all around
me however, they were more spread out. I couldn't believe just how
far up this path went and I was very grateful that I had decided to
come to Kyoto in the winter and not during the summer. By now, a few
beautiful views of the city of Kyoto opened up below me. Each time
the city came into view, I would take a few photos before going back
into the trees to follow the path forever upwards. Finally I made it
to the top where I wasted no time at all in coming back down. I
choose a different route down which, sadly, meant that I missed most
of the <i>tori </i>I had already seen<i> </i>however, it also meant
that I missed the crowds too. Once at the bottom I was exhausted; I
grabbed a drink and proceeded to the train station where I could have
a sit down as I made my way to my final attraction for the day –
Byodo-in. The time was around 12:30pm. Fushimi-Inari had taken about
two hours which I hadn't expected. I hoped that Byodo-in wouldn't
take more than three hours to visit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Byodo-in
is actually not in Kyoto at all; it is located within the small town
of Uji. I was under the impression that Uji would be about a thirty
minute train ride from Kyoto however, after fifteen minutes or so, I
found myself alighting at Uji's train station. Once again the fare
had been incredibly cheap and so I happily walked towards the UNESCO
World Heritage site – which the Kyoto area seems to be full of.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Byodo-in
was actually a villa for the emperor's chief adviser, Fujiwara
Michinaga. It was his son who worked on the grounds of the villa,
making it the envy of the Japanese court. Today the grounds are gone
however, that doesn't really spoil the villa itself. Byodo-in is a
beautiful symmetrical building surrounded by a moat of water. It's
symmetry, red beams and white walls make it perfect for photography.
Within a very short space of time I had taken over thirty photos
always looking for the best angle and for when there weren't too many
people in front of it. Just like at Kinkaku-ji, a path led you around
the villa presenting every possible angle. The sun was behaving,
allowing for some great photos. To the left of the villa was a small
museum dedicated to the villa and, in particular, it's Phoenix Hall.
This villa is now dedicated to Buddhism and it's central hall –
called the Phoenix Hall – houses a very large Buddha statue with
small Buddha's encircling it on clouds floating up to paradise. I
knew all this not by viewing the hall itself, but by entering the
modern - and well laid out - museum which was in the mountain to the
side of the villa and was included within my entry ticket. Once
again, to get into the Phoenix Hall itself I would have to purchase a
separate ticket which I was reluctant to do. With most of the items
on show only labelled in Japanese, I didn't spend too long looking at
any particular exhibition in the museum, a part from the two original
Phoenix statues which would have been on the top of the main hall's
roof. I circled the glass case in which they now found themselves in,
looking as the craftsmanship. It was very good.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">With
it only being 2:30pm I was stunned that I'd actually completed my
last site for the day. Five temples seen in seven hours … not bad.
Due to having time free I contemplated purchasing the extra ticket to
go into the Phoenix Hall itself however, all tickets had been sold
for the next three viewings. The next available viewing time was in
ninety minutes. I declined therefore I took one last look at the
temple before I left and headed back to the train station. Once
outside the train station, I re-read my guidebook's entry for 'Uji'
to make sure that there wasn't anything else of interest. There
wasn't. I therefore boarded the 2:55pm 'rapid' service back to Kyoto.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Whilst
on the train, I gazed out into the world and thought. Today had been
fantastic! Fushimi and Byodo-in had been unbelievably beautiful and
the weather had been stunning. I wish I'd done this mornings rock
gardens last of all, as they would have made a lovely relaxing end to
the day. Never mind. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
back in Kyoto, I went to my usual multi-storey department store for
lunch / tea, which had a camera shop on the ground floor. I purchased
a new lens cap before heading to the 6<sup>th</sup> floor and into a
'tonkatsu' restaurant. The meal was lovely however, it didn't fill me
up as much as the tempura did yesterday therefore, once outside, I
went to the local convenience store to buy a dessert.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So
now I am back in my hotel room wondering where on earth the last week
has gone. Yes, that's right … I've been travelling for a week. Even
though it's gone very quickly, I have managed to fit a lot in.
Tonight I shall pack and plan my route for tomorrow as I will be
hiring another car. Tomorrow I will hit Kansai's northern coastline.
Directly above Kyoto is Amanohashidate; one of the three most
beautiful sites in Japan <i>(I have been to the other two). </i>Once
I've visited Amanohashidate I shall continue driving around a lake
called 'Biwa-ko' and back to Kyoto. Just like in Kobe, I hope to hand
my car back sooner than my allotted time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8794589824403521008.post-12993172232140886072015-12-28T03:18:00.000-08:002015-12-28T03:18:58.378-08:00A city of gold and bamboo
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Date:
Monday 28<sup>th</sup> December 2015</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Weather:
Once again it was quite cold in Kyoto however, the sun was shining
brightly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MP3
track of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntG50eXbBtc">Gold </a>- Spandau Ballet</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
walls in my B+B are so thin that I spent most of the night worrying
that my alarm would wake everyone else up as well as me. I need not
have worried as I managed to wake up, by myself, ten minutes before
my alarm was due to explode. I quickly got ready and went in search
of the nearest underground station. Due to last nights problems with
finding somewhere to eat, I got off Kyoto's pre-historic underground
system one stop before the one I actually wanted. The stop I wanted
was at the north end of Kyoto's palace grounds, which I hadn't
visited before. The stop I was at was located at the south of Kyoto's
palace grounds and I had visited this area before therefore, I knew
that there was a McDonald's where I could get some breakfast. After
that I walked up to the north end of Kyoto's palace before turning
west. Today I would be visiting the North-western parts of Kyoto
which included two famous temples – and lots of others, a museum
and then a suburb called Arashiyama. My plan was simple; have a
wonder around the temples within Kyoto's north-western area before
taking the train to Arashiyama. First however, a good forty minute
walk was needed to actually get to my starting point; Daitoku-ji.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">More
like a complex of temples rather than a single temple, Daitoku-ji is
one of Kyoto's largest 'Zen' foundations … or so my guidebook told
me. There was a beautiful stone pathway which zig-zagged through
smaller temple sites, each one separated from the others with it's
own stone wall. Throughout the site, trees grew offering an air of
tranquillity. A sign stated that you could walk through the complex
for free however, if you wanted to visit any of the temples then you
had to pay at the individual temple gates. This was great for me as I
knew that I had other temples which I wanted to see today therefore,
I sneaked my way along the path and, using my 'foreigner height', I
took a peak at some of the temple's gardens.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As
you can imagine, this didn't take long. I was on the road again and
still heading west. I had been on my feet for almost two hours now
and they were starting to hurt. I don't think it was the distance as
much as the surface of the ground. Tar-mac can be torture for your
feet. Finally I hobbled into view of my first real attraction of the
day; Kinkaku-ji. 'Kin' means gold therefore, this was the famous
golden temple I'd missed during my last visit to Kyoto. From the
photos I'd seen of it, it basically consisted of a small two-storey
golden temple stuck in the middle of some beautiful gardens. I had
never seen a golden temple before so I eagerly paid the entrance fee
and went in.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
would have to agree with my guidebook when it states that “even the
crowds can't diminish the impact of seeing the temple for the first
time”. When I saw the top of the temple through the trees for the
first time, I raced around the corner and saw the full thing
surrounded by a beautiful garden and a well kept pond. A security
guard told me that I had to go a certain way and, this was a good
thing as he led me to the perfect spot to photograph the temple to
death. Sadly, hundreds of other tourists had been guided this way
too, therefore I had to fight for every inch of space against ugly
people who insisted on having their 'far from perfect' faces in the
middle of what could have been a perfectly good photo. I continued to
photograph the golden temple from many different angles capturing it
and different parts of it's surrounding gardens. You couldn't go in
the temple; instead the route all visitors had to follow snaked
around three sides of the temple offering many different photo
opportunities. The gardens too were wonderful and again I was
starting to feel quite relaxed. Once I'd finished taking my photos, I
left the temple the way I'd come in and continued west.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Next
up was supposed to be the 'Kyoto Museum of World Peace' or, to give
it a title which actually means something, 'A history museum
dedicated to Japan's militarisation'. According to my guidebook, this
was one of very few museums in Japan which 'held no punches' when it
came to telling the Japanese people the truth about their countries
military past. It also had a model describing what would have
happened if the US had decided to drop an atomic bomb on the city
instead of Nagasaki. Sadly though, this museum was also closed for
the winter. I therefore walked to the closest convenience store where
I bought a drink and a cake before sitting down and consuming both.
By now my feet were really hurting; all they had to do was to get me
to one more temple before I would take a twenty minute train ride to
Arashiyama. Begrudgingly my feet responded to my pleas; once I'd
promised them a rest whilst on the train. I therefore got up, put my
rubbish in the bin and proceeded onto my next temple; Ryoan-ji.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ryoan-ji
has become Japan's most famous temple due to it's rock garden.
Fifteen rocks are strategically positioned within a sea of raked
gravel so that all rocks cannot be seen from the same viewing point;
or so my guidebook told me. I'm not sure if things have been moved
or, if moving your head is cheating or if my elevated position makes
my forthcoming comment void but, from a couple of locations I could
see all fifteen rocks. Once all rocks had been identified I moved on,
hoping that this twenty-four meter rock garden wasn't all that there
was to see.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It
was. I'm not sure if yet more attractions are closed for the holidays
however, the map of this temple's grounds was huge and yet, a lot of
it seemed to be 'out of bounds'. I therefore returned to the rock
garden wanting to make more use of my 500 Yen entry ticket by getting
'Zen'ed up'.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
sat looking at the rocks for a couple of minutes not sure if my 'zen
level' had reached maximum or not. Other people seemed to be enjoying
the view whereas I, just felt bored. I mean; how entertaining can
fifteen rocks actually be? With other things to see I finally left
the temple happy that I'd seen something a lot of Japanese people
talk about, but unhappy as it wasn't really that good. Sure the
grounds had been peaceful with their tree-lined paths and use of
water however, all of that I've seen before; it was the rock garden
I, and everyone else, had come to see. Once out of the gate I
proceeded directly south towards the closest train station. Now, I am
use to the Japanese Shinkasen trains, their hybrid electrical trains
and their modern daily commuter trains however, I wasn't quite
prepared for the 1930's on rails … coming down the track looking at
me. The best way I can describe the train – if that's what it was –
which I was about to board would be like a San Francisco tram, just
on rails. Once inside I checked out the lighting, which seemed to
match lights used on the Titanic and seats which were probably
installed by one of the retired chaps using the train today. This may
sound as though I wasn't that impressed however, on the contrary, the
train shone with character and, along with it's very strange route -
which almost went through peoples back gardens - it was an experience
in itself … oh and very cheap.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
in Arashiyama I sat down to read my guidebooks entry on the place.
Apart from another 400 temples – which I didn't really fancy going
around – the best thing to do was to just wander around and get
lost within Arashiyama's maze of small streets. Arashiyama was
originally a place for the emperor and local lords to leave the
worries of the city behind and to relax, write poetry or to go on a
hunt. These days, the place is full with day trippers, looking for a
bit of peace from the 'hustle and bustle' of Kyoto – which
obviously didn't happen as the place was as crowded as a shop having
a 'closing down sale'. With no real aim, I put my guidebook away and
looked at the local tourist map. It showed a 'bamboo walk', which
sounded like fun, and so off I went.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My
dad likes bamboo. Why, I'm not too sure however, he would have loved
this place. A wide'ish' path left the town of Arashiyama and headed
'up hill' to a forest made out of the tallest bamboo trees I have
ever seen. It would appear that bamboo trees grow quite close
together therefore, most of the daylight was blocked out by the sheer
number of them. I took a lot of photos trying to focus either on the
close proximity of the trees, or where their leaves met the sky. I
don't know much about bamboo however, I was very surprised at how
smooth and strong a bamboo tree is. I really enjoyed walking along
this pathway, stopping whenever I felt like it and trying to bring
across the area, in which I found myself in, through my photos.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
out, I decided to circle back into town via a new route. This meant
that I occasionally got lost down some of Arashiyama's famous small
streets however, no matter how small the street was, there was still
a group of tourists speaking all languages under the sun. Once I'd
made my way back into town I realised just how tired I was. I had
been on my feet for over seven hours. Due to my early departure the
time was only 2:30pm therefore, there was still plenty of daylight
left however, I didn't really have the will to carry on. I therefore
decided to have a look in all of the souvenir shops for potential
ideas for when I do my 'big shop' at the end of my holiday. I also
took a couple of photos of Arashiyama's bridge which crosses the
Katsura-gawa river before I decided to call it a day and head back to
the train station. The 1930's once again arrived on time to take me
back to Kyoto's city centre. Wishing to head back to my B+B, I stayed
on the train as we past the stop I'd boarded from earlier, and rode
the train all the way to the last stop.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Once
back in Kyoto my day wasn't over just yet. The last stop still left
me a good thirty minute walk away from the train station and my B+B.
What's more, I hadn't eaten since breakfast therefore I was famished.
Once back at the station I went into the electrical shop I visited
yesterday and went up to the sixth floor. I walked past the steak
restaurant and into a very nice looking tempura restaurant. The great
thing about my choice of eating times – breakfast at 8am, followed
by snacks until 4/5pm where I would have lunch / dinner – was that,
not only did I not need to queue for a table, I could choose any
table within the restaurant. For a long part of my meal, I was the
only paying customer. Being very hungry, I ordered one of the largest
tempura 'meal sets' which came with six pieces of tempura sitting on
top of a bowl of rice. I also got a miso soup thrown in and I ordered
a glass of Pepsi. All-in-all I was a very happy chappy as tempura is
my favourite Japanese food – and this was delicious; I watched the
guy cook it in front of me – and I had lots of room to relax.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
had consumed so much that I left dessert and waddled out of the shop.
I was planning on buying a small dessert from my B+B's local
convenience store however, once there, I just waddled past and into
my accommodation. The way I was feeling, I wasn't sure if I could eat
anything else for the rest of this year.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So
tonight I shall rest my feet and probably watch some TV. Once again I
could go out and watch the new Star Wars film however, after all of
the walking I've done to day, I need to give my feet a rest in
preparation for tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I'll be heading south
to visit two more temples.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toodle
Pip!</span></span></div>
Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728234718089434914noreply@blogger.com0