Japan & Korea (2018) - Part 2: Temple Touring

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Dear Blog Readers,



Leaving Hakone was a breeze considering what we’d been through trying to get out of Tokyo a couple of days before. To catch our bullet train, we needed to get the rush hour subway at 7:30am to the central station. Ladened with our bags and suitcases, we started queuing for the next train. My only prior horrendous rush hour commuting experience was waiting for 6 tubes at Waterloo and City before being packed into the carriage. I guess we were probably about the same distance from the train this time around…however, once the doors opened, the scramble to get inside began. Once the doors started to close, a guard suddenly appeared, arms flung wide, he proceeded to physically heave another 10 people, us included, onto the coach. Packed like sardines doesn’t do it justice! Once we got to the next station, the tsunami of people exiting the train actually caused Laura to levitate and be carried off with the human wave pushing behind her!



A much quieter bus and train journey this time took us from Hakone to Odawara after a Japanese breakfast of salad, salmon and fish. A quaint town famous for its magnificent castle, Odawara Jo, plenty of battles have been fought for this ground which has natural defences in the forms of hillside as well as accessibility between the sea and the mainland. Nothing like the castles back home, this plush white multi-story temple perched on a stone base surrounded by gardens, a moat with huge coy carp fish and bridges linking huge gates.



After a lovely tour and views from the top of the castle, we made our way back to the train station stopping on the way to the samurai/ninja experience and to the shops to buy plenty of weird and wonderful Japanese snacks – including green tea Kit Kats, lettuce flavoured popcorn and red-hot chilli squid rings…not sure how they were going to cope in the heat mind you.



Thankfully our train was running given the intense downpours towards where we were heading – the beautiful city of Kyoto. Its beauty was marred by the torrential downpours that greeted us once we arrived at the magnificent train station (which has its own section in the guidebook to visit!). We trundled through the streets and found our place for the night – oddly titled BJ’s Family Hotel. The rain just about subsided when we left about 10pm in vain to find a place that was playing the England vs Sweden game.



Unfortunately, this meant we had to do something we haven’t done for some time when travelling…go to a British themed pub. A hotbed for congregating tourists ready and willing to grumble about the state of the world throwing in the odd highly controversial remark to see what sticks. We found a corner to watch the game and were joined by two Americans – one showing sufficient enthusiasm for the game, and the other jetlagged tucking into a lacklustre ‘fish & chips’. Thankfully the result left us leaving on a high as we crawled in for the night.



The following morning, we went to Fushimi-inari, famous for its bright orange pillar posted gates in Memoirs of a Geisha. In fact, the whole complex is quite large, and we visited it last time we were here about a couple of hours before closing. Then, it was nearly empty, and the cooler temperature meant we could walk right up to summit and take in the views. Unfortunately, during the day it is a completely different story! It would give the rush hour Tokyo subway a run for its money in terms of quantity of people! We stayed for an hour but the intense heat and single-file queue through the gates were sufficient for us to call time and see the rest of the city.



First impressions of Kyoto can be underwhelming, so you need to give it some time and really walk around to take it all in. We had a great walk starting at the Kennin-ji Temple before winding through the geisha-hidden streets around Higashoji Street before ramping up towards the Yasaka Pagoda and Kodai-ji Minamimon Street. Given the heat, we couldn’t believe the energy of the guys pulling tourists up and down the streets on their makeshift rickshaws.



We headed up Nene-no-michi street and circled back to go up to Kodai-ji Temple. Probably Kyoto’s most famous temple (and that’s a tough crowd to pick from) – we realised we didn’t have enough cash on us and the nearest ATM was a bit of a walk away, so we decided to walk to the gardens around Chion-in Temple. These were lovely and a bit of peace away from the hustle and bustle of the city streets. Making our way back to the main shopping area, Shijo Street, we passed the bright orange Yasaka Shrine which is about a mile north of the pagoda of the same name. Shijo Street as a large market filled with great restaurants, street food (including octopus on a stick) and fresh fruit (a near perfect bunch of grapes would set you back £25!).



Waiting for our final bullet train out to Fukoka, we were able to take in the sights at the top of the train station sky garden, with great views of the city and can save a bit of money than going up Kyoto Tower! Fukoka bound, we found the decent Yaoji Hakata hotel with an onsen in the basement close to the train station. After a nice dip in the baths, we found a cool beef restaurant in the train station which was heaving with locals for their evening food fix. The following morning, we were on the Beetle ferry, bound for Busan to begin the next stage in our trip to more familiar ground and to see some familiar faces!



Tink & Laura

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