Nara Pt. 2 & First Time In Kyoto! Love Temples.

18/09/12

After I had visited Nara Dreamland, as you can imagine I was starving, so I walked down town pretty quickly and headed into a local restaurant and ordered a small beef bowl for breakfast! I practically drank this down and then headed up the hill to go and check out some temples!

It was great fun exploring the temples first thing in the morning, because no one was around! I had the place to myself!

The only problem was, was the rain! It was just raining the whole day, and didn’t let up! I tried for a while to remain dry, but it was inevitable! After about an hour in the rain mixed with the humidity I was drenched all the way through! Socks, T-Shirt everything in my bag was wet as well… which wasn’t ideal as my camera and iphone was in my bag. Once you get that wet, I suppose the rain stops being annoying and you end up just accepting it! It kind of gave Nara a type of calmness… its weird but true!

The big highlight in Nara was seeing the biggest Buddha in Japan at the Yakushiji Temple. It was pretty expensive to visit 300YEN ($5AUD) but very, very worth it! I just sat looking at this massive Buddha in recapping about what happened the night before in Dreamland and  in awe of how big it is, I was studying all the different details of it as well, it was just amazing!

After this I headed back to the train station in the pouring rain so I could catch a train to Kyoto to explore the many temples here. As soon as I got on the train, I passed out and only woke up when I realise the train wasn’t moving anymore, being tired wasn’t an understatement.

I jumped off the train and snuck through the barriers to avoid paying the ridiculous price that Japan want, to ride their basic train service, and headed to the local Information centre for a map.

My plan was to walk from the station to the Shrine of Inari that is known for its beautiful orange gates that lead up to a shrine at the top of the mountain.

So I’m dripping wet and hiking up to the top, stair after stair can be quite boring, but not when your surrounded by these beautiful Orange shrine gates, its just stunning.

On my hike up, I meet this Aussie guy about my age and we continue to hike together its cool fun to have someone to hike with we explored all around the mountain but we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because we never made it to the top, instead we went a different way down and stumbled upon this amazing Japanese garden. It was my first Japanese garden, it was beautiful. This Australian guy is a studying architect and he was explaining to me how the Japanese set up their gardens. He was saying with a Japanese Garden you walk around the garden until you reach a certain position where everything just fits and it provides you with a beautiful view of the garden… I think they call it Zen. Anyway, this point of the garden was on the bridge, have a look at the photos to see what I mean.

After we explored all the gardens we said our good bye’s and I headed on back to Osaka to pass out on Jack’s (my couchsurfing host) floor… it only took 2 minutes for me to be fast asleep. Which was a good thing, as the next day I was spending an entire day in Kyoto!

It was pouring down with rain at Nara! So wet!

Temples!

The orange shrine gates!

The nice walks to the temple!

Inside one of the temples!

HUGE SPIDERS in Japan!

The temple of the Big Budda!

The big man, in all his glory!

Green Grass... and rain!

Tokyo - Day 10 Hanging With Kosuke

15^th September Day 10 – Hanging out with my Japanese friend Kosuke.

And then Saturday rolled on in. It was a pretty relaxed slow start to the day, I had planned to meet with Kosuke at 12pm at Kaminarimon Gate.

What I didn’t realise is how far it was from Locky’s place. It took me about 1.5 hours until I met up with Kosuke, I was so very apologetic as its quite rude to make people wait in Japan (and everywhere else J)

Anyway, I wasn’t completely my fault I was told the wrong directions and got a bit lost, but never mind I still managed to get there ok.

Kosuke showed me around the gate and even took me down the very busy street and showed me the beautiful temple. I was shown the proper way to bless yourself before you enter a Buddhist temple, and the correct way to pray.

You must first clean your hands and mouth at the washing basin, then enter the temple, before you pray you are suppose to throw some Yen into a box, put your hands together to pray. It’s actually quite cool, and even though its not something I do, it was a really great experience.

It was so much fun hanging out with a Japanese dude, and Kosuke’s English was amazing so he was able to explain to me what the ‘warriors’ that guard the gates and temples. There is one warrior who has an open mouth, this resembles life, the reason being is that when you are born you are making a lot of noise aka screaming. On the other side, there is the closed mouth warrior, and obviously this resembles death.

After we walked around the main street for a while, we grabbed some beef bowl which is a Japanese dish which is basically rice and beef strips on top. Kosuke and I mixed it up a bit. We also ordered a raw egg which you dig a hole in your rice and pour the egg into the hole and mix it all up. It gives it a great feeling, and makes you want to climb some stairs and raise your hands like Rocky!!!

Kosuke was an absolute legend even though I very much offered to pay, he refused saying that ‘it’s was his country and I’m the guest’, but when he comes to Australia he is going to order a steak and make me pay!!

We were now feeling full and ready to keep checking out the surrounding areas. Kosuke showed me all the really nice restaurants and told me about all the different foods. I told him that I wanted to buy some Tobi (or Tabi) shoes. These are the 2 toed shoes that the Ninja’s (supposedly) used to wear. We found a random shop that sold them, and for the bargain price of only 1000Yen! Perfect! I picked them up! Can’t wait to wear them in Australia.

I also picked up a Japanese headband that read something along the lines of “Power & Spirit” which is pretty cool!

So it started to get late, and I still had an hour bike ride to get home and then eventually a bus to catch to Osaka so we said our goodbyes and pretty much concluded an awesome experience I had with Kosuke!

I chilled out with Locky and a German dude at Locky’s house until the unfortunate time approached where I had to catch my bus to Osaka!

My time in Tokyo was amazing! I don’t think I have enjoyed a city as much as I did in Tokyo! The place just has so much energy such an awesome city!

But next up we have Osaka, cant wait!!

Till next time!

Steve

Lovely temples!

pretty busy place!

The 'gods' of entertainment! 

We watched a special parade...

My friend Kosuke and some hot Indian chick!

Kosuke and myself!

Hanging out!

Tokyo - Day 9 Riding around Tokyo - Sony Building

14^th September Day 9 – Riding around Tokyo, checking out the Sony Building in Ginza and visiting the shopping streets in Ueno.

Friday was another early wake up as Locky as he had to go to school so I woke up early as well to leave his flat with him. Today my plan was to do some more bike riding around Tokyo! Its so much fun riding around in Tokyo, you get to see so much of the city, and because its so flat its quite an easy ride as you can push yourself as much or as little as you want.

My legs are still aching from Mt. Fuji so its nice to jump on a bike to ride away the pain and soreness. So I had already tried to visit the Sony Building once before but it was closed, so this was my second attempt, it was pretty easy to find as I have this new app for my phone that downloads offline maps to your phone and then uses the GPS built into the phone to track your location! It’s actually really handy!

So I eventually found the Sony Building that was a fair ride from Locky’s place maybe an hour away. But like I said before it’s nice riding around Tokyo.

I locked my bike up with the thinnest bike lock I had ever seen, just praying that my bike wouldn’t get nicked as I spend time checking out all the gadgets in the Sony Building.

I explored the many floors of the Sony building, everything from the gaming section to the music section to the TV’s and cameras. I touched, used and tried everything! It was so much fun, I could have spent (if I had the money) hundreds of thousands of dollars on EVERYTHING.

A couple of the big highlights for me, were trying on the headphones. So my first pair I tried on were over $200AUD which were some really nice Sony over the ear headphones and I listened to my own music. I found the bassiest track I could find a rocked out! Whilst I was rocking out (on my own) I looked over to my left and realised that there was an even more expensive pair, with an amplifier that you plug your iPhone into to increase the sound quality.

I finished the song I was listening to and tried the new setup. Ok, so the headphones themselves cost 49,800YEN ($612AUD) and then the small iPhone Amplifier is 39,800YEN ($489AUD) so the whole setup cost $1.101AUD, and it sounded awesome! I just wish I could have bought them and taken them home to listen! It was great!

After I had my head blown off by some of the most amazing audiophile equipment I have ever tried I headed up to the Camera equipment and took some photos of the little model train sets that they have located near the Camera kit. It was fun! But again I couldn’t afford any of it.

Next up was the TV and Entertainment centre. I was just walking around this building with a huge smile on my face and shaking my head in just astonishment, I got chatting with on the Japanese girls that work there and I explained to her how great this was. She pointed me upstairs to the next room that featured the latest in 3D entertainment, the Sony Headset/Goggles!

I waited in line for 15 minutes playing with the cool Sony Phones and Tablets until I was called into this room, where there were 4 stations and a really comfy leather chair next to each station. On each station there was a Sony Headset and a pair of the $612AUD headphones!

So you sit down in this chair and a Japanese girl explains to you in Japanese how to adjust the headset to fit your head, clearly myself and the other American guy in the room had no idea what was happening. We managed with a little bit of help from the ladies, put the headphone on and watched the trailer for the new Spiderman in 3D! I’ve seen the movie, but in 3D it looked AMAZING!

I came out of that room once again just giggling in excitement thinking that one day, this will be normal!

At the moment, I think the Headset was a bit to bulky and heavy, and that after 30 minutes of watching you will get a sore neck… but this is only the beginning!

After the amazing 3D experience, I went up another set of stairs and watched This Is It, the Michael Jackson movie on a huge TV with great speakers.

Once I had had enough and go to depressed to continue I went to the toilet and got my bum washed and dried using the special toilets and then headed back outside to find my bike in exactly the same place I’d left it.

I jumped back on my Pink bike a travelled to  to just check out another small suburb in Tokyo. There was lots going on, people everywhere, lots of markets it was really great. I was looking for some special Japanese 2 toe’d shoes called Tobi, I found a pair but they were 3,000Yen and I was sure I could find some cheaper.

Anyway, it was getting late, so I road my bike back to Shinjuku to meet Locky and his Japanese girlfriend so we could head back to their flat together.

It was a great evening, Locky and his Girlfriend cooked some great Okanamiyaki which filled me up and let me pass out with food sleeps! Perfect.

TL;DR – Checked out all the gadgets in the Sony Building, and had some amazing food!

The Imperial Palace in Tokyo, it was closed so i couldnt go in, instead i took this photo!

One of the many Japanese Parks!

Who would of thought there was a Hooters in Tokyo, Ginza!

The fully pimped out Amp + Headphone setup!

This little guy was awesome... its a WATCH!!!!

The shopping street in Ueno!

So much activity!

Stay Tuned! They are coming quick and fast!

xxxxx

Tokyo - Day 5 Yokohama

10^th September Day 5: Yokohama.

I had been looking at the weather reports for Mount Fuji for about a week, trying to pick the best day to head up. I was planning on going on Monday (10^th) but the weather just looked really average, lots of rain and lots of clouds… Yeah probably not the best idea with shoes with no tread and not even proper waterproofed clothes, so instead I opted to go to Yokohama which is about 1 hour east of Tokyo, right on the ocean.

Yokohama is just another city, but what makes it difference is that you have the port/water just near the city and it also provides you with a great sunset over the city if you can hang around for it. Well that was exactly my plan.

I knew that I was planning on heading up to Mt. Fuji the next day (11^th September – Day 6) so my plan in Yokohama was to get some supplies and buy a head torch which would be crucial. So at first arrival to the city I cruised around checking out the local shops and just basically exploring the city, it’s a nice city just really relaxed. What I found amusing was that, in the main shopping strip, where they have all the fashion designer clothes there are several speakers placed all around the street playing really relaxing music, I loved it, it must make all the shoppers a bit more chilled out that they just spent $300 on a pair of jeans.

From the main shopping strip, I kept walking and ended up walking past the main Baseball stadium in Yokohama, the home of the Yokohama Baystars. Woo Hoo!

I would have loved to have gone to watch a game buy I was short on time, so I had to miss it… maybe another time.

On my travels in Yokohama I stumbled across the local Chinatown! So I cruised in down and around Chinatown trying to find any bits of cheap food… unfortunately it wasn't china prices… but I did manage to find some little snacks to eat.

So the sun was getting lower, and I still hadn't found a head torch. I was looking at one of the maps that are placed all around the city when a random French dude introduced himself to me. Perfect, I had someone to hang out with in Yokohama. I was telling him all about my plans to hike Mt. Fuji and he was very interested. But ill get to that later…

I eventually found a head torch which I bought for the pretty reasonable price of 1400YEN ($17AUD), and then myself and the French dude, walked along the sea to find a place to watch the sunset.

We eventually found the standard place where everyone goes to watch it and it was great, the sunset behind all the buildings which made for some great photos… Check them out!

Throughout the whole afternoon, the French guy had been telling me how keen he was to hike up Fuji, he even went to the extent of flipping a coin to see if he should go! So I wrote down all the information about where I was going to be at what times etc etc etc… but when it came to the day he didn’t show. I wasn’t that surprised, but its still annoying when someone says they will do something and they don’t bother.

But, still my time in Yokohama was amazing, great sunset got everything I needed for my Fuji hike, I was prepared.

TL;DR – Went to Yokohama watched a beautiful sunset! Planned for Fuji!

A photo between the two buildings... THERE IS THE SEA!

Ferris Wheel in Yokohama

Nice bridge in the back ground!

The port of Yokohama!

Finally made it to China Town

The Entrance gate of ChinaTown

A small temple in China Town

Yokohama Stadium

The Sun Starting to Set!

Beautiful!

Who would have thought that a sunset over a CITY would be this beautiful!

All of a sudden at 6pm, all the lights turned on!

The Ferris wheel looked amazing!

really wanted a Tri-Pod to do some long exposure shots!

Next blog MT FUJI!