To try and remedy this, we took the first day really slow, heading over to the raved about Manga museum, in this popular home of print cartoons.
Based in an old school, the museum was three floors of magna books with sections dedicated to european language publications. Unfortunately there wasn't much else
there, with very limited explanation of the art form, its origins and its purpose. After gandering around for a while, we read some of the english publications
(famous ones are dragonballz, pokemon and beyblade) before walking thirty minutes to the main station and booking our tickets out to Tokyo
some good food, pork dishes with rice and Japanese dumplings washed down with the famous national drink, Sake(a 15% rice wine drank in shots which had a fruity apple like aftertaste).
We finally succummed to seeing some sights over the next two days. Despite our initial slumber, we were incredibly imressed by what we saw. The second day in town took us to the cities finest site, the Golden Pavillion(covered in real gold leaf). This was originally built way back in 1398(though the current is a 1950's remake after a mentally ill monk burnt down the original). Following this we took a bus south to Nijo-jo, the
cities castle built by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1601 it was the home of the Tokygawa Shogunate till it was disbanded in the 19th century. Unfortunately its central
keep was destroyed in a fire in the 18th century, and so inside the walls there is a palace with a fantastic traditional Japanese interior and some other wooden structures
which weren’t so impressive.
The third day involved an early start, eating rice and beef doused in soy sauce and pink pickled yam for just Y250 (£2) at a national chain which we have lived off since being in Japan (food is generally quite a bit). The day ahead was hectic as we marched around the temples starting south at Kyomizudera and working our way north stopping at Kodai Ji and the impressive xxx in which monks were noisily praying. As we headed back on ourselves we traversed along traditional streets lined with Japanese houses, deliberately narrow at the front (due to an old tax which taxed one for the width of ones house) and passed colourfully dressed Geishas(traditionally dressed woman who for centuries have entertained men with dancing, songs and poems and often mistaken by westerners to be high class crostituites). The mercury hit 35 degreees with no cloud cover, and so it was a relief when our route took us back on ourselves for another round of 250 yen food. The afternoon was much the same as the morning, only the traditional streets gave way to modern paced alleys as we strolled north. We again saw some excellent sites and gardens including a Zen garden which was actually a collection of stones. That evening we had to move hostel due to ours being full (we should have booked an extra night earlier). It was a bit of a blessing in disguise as many people there had been kindly social to us, though being at the end of this trip, neither of us felt in the mood to make the effort with others. That evening we ate some rich and pretty spicy Ajisen noodles at a joint in one of the towns covered shopping streets before taking an eight hour coach to Tokyo
The world’s largest city was electric, filled with people. We stayed in the centre in a capsule hotel- essentially you sleep in a container like structure instead of a bed. Tokyo ’s Oxford Street Ginza was our first port of call. It was quiet when we went, full of all the high end brands such as burberry, dolche and havannah etc. We spent a few hours wondering around, looking in some of the shops and went inside the sony centre, a skyscraper with several floors of 3D exhibitions and tvs alongside other gizmos such as the latest cameras and touch screen computers. Following a subway for lunch, we headed over to Shibuya, where we wandered around the alleyways looking at the slightly more down to earth shops. Whilst there we took the opportunity to photograph the famous crossing, filled with people against a backdrop of lights and sounds from the nearby shopping streets, skyscrapers and giant TV screens.
The trips penultimate full day was another soiree of sensory overload, as we headed a few stops on the Giza Line to Akihabara, known as electric city and the hub of Tokyo
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| Akihabra |
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| Maid Cafe |
The final day of the final country of the trip was fairly laid back. Rising at 8am we headed to the docks under clear skies, arriving at the fish market at around 9 oclock. After walking around the under cover market looing at some of the strange creatures on sale (which strangely didn’t smell that bad), we headed to a restaurant by the docks for the real reason we were here- fresh Sushi! The market is very popular with tourists because it is here that tokyos restaurants are provided with their stock, including sushi restaurants in which the product can cost many hundreds of pounds per piece. However ,restaurants at the docks get some of the lesser cuts of the fresh fish allowing tourists to get a real taste of Japan at a fraction of the cost.. For around £8 each we watched as the chef prepared each of us a sushi board, slicing the various fish and craftily rolling the sushi in seaweed paper . You could defiantly taste the difference compared to the stuff served at conventional restaurants, incredible. Following our rather exotic breakfast we headed back via a brief trip to Panasonic world which showcased lifestyle products (including heated toilets with automatically opening lids and autoflush).
In the afternoon, we strolled from our hostel through some backstreets via the canal to the base of the soaring Tokyo Sky Tree, the world’s second tallest building at 634 meters, due to open later in 2011. Our final outing of the trip typically and perhaps fittingly took us to a nearby temple.
A 5:45am start meant we reached Tokyo Narita Airport
So this is the trip concluded. But first a quick analysis.
Rating countries is so difficult; ultimately it’s the experience you had there which is the biggest factor. Attempting to take into account of this my ratings are as follows:
The surprise package of the trip, Aeotora provided the best natural beauty anywhere I have seen, anywhere from the Glaciers and Lakes of the Southern Alps to the Volcanoes and Geysers of the North Island New Zealand for its freshness, in China
5. South Korea
The ten days spent with Chris and his lodgers were great fun. The country offered some decent temples and sights, but it was the food was exceptional, some of my favourite cuisine of the trip including the much coveted barbeque.
6. Malaysia with Singapore
Malaysia provided some cool temples, great food in Penang and amazing underwater scenery in the fantastic Perenthian Islands.
7. Vietnam
Great sites with the war museum in HCMC and the bike ride in Hue standing out
8. Cambodia
Angkor Wat was one of the best sights seen all trip though the long bus journeys and uninspiring Phnom Penh lets this down
9. Laos
Long bus journeys, good sights but nothing special
10. Thailand
Full of scheming bastards always trying to scam you, not much to see- the new Marbella
