Blogs from Kyoto, Japan, Asia - page 14

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Asia » Japan » Kyoto November 20th 2015

Hello world, (Maddie here) Well today we saw some more of Japanese cultural heritage sights. Kyoto has a staggering amount of temples, shrines, religious and Imperial significant sights, you could probably live here all your life and not be able to visit them all. So on our last full day here, we decided to visit as many as we could sustain the energy for. When we woke we were releaved to discover that the rain had stopped and that instead of having to travel everywhere on foot with umbrellea’s overhead, we could woosh around the streets like the locals. (which I might add, can actually ride a bicycle while holding an umbrella, and have even invented a stand that attaches to their handle bars for those that still wish to control their machine with two hands! ... read more
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Asia » Japan » Kyoto November 19th 2015

Hello world Brad here to tell you about our adventures today.... So we began not so early about 10am with a bakery breakfast, i.e. i ducked down to the local French bakery underneath the apartment and grabbed some croissants and other baked treats and cooked up some bacon, eggs and toast in the fry pan. After gobbling our way through our brekky feast we showered, dressed and made our way to the bikes located near the front entry. I thought that it might be a good opportunity to use the bikes provided and travel the 1km or so up the road to the Golden shrine. Yeah not my best idea! It started pouring down with rain as we got to the entry and we looked like drowned rats so we decided to head back to where ... read more
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Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto November 17th 2015

Hello world, So today we travelled from our accommodation near Universal Studio Osaka to Kyoto. We woke early today and then we both fell back asleep, this holiday is meant to be an enjoyable experience and both Brad and Myself we feel that rushing from one destination to another causes unnecessary stress, so while we want to see and do as much as we can, we are still trying to find a balance that allows us to enjoy each location as much as we can afford to. This mornings train ticket purchase was probable one of the easiest we have had on our trip so far. With our entire lives resting on our shoulders (literally, backpacking had always been a romantic notion to me, until actually doing it. The pack on the back, the big one, ... read more
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Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto October 17th 2015

Kyoto - the ancient capital, abundant with traditional Japanese culture, gardens and temples. Upon arrival, we quickly discovered Kyoto was like many towns and cities we've visited in the Middle East - there is the 'new' city and the 'old' city. After checking in to our downtown hotel, we went for a stroll to the old quarter, Gion. At the very end of long street was Yakasa shrine - a large shinto shrine set amongst a backdrop of lush trees and gardens. It is said construction started on this in 656 and it became the object of Imperial patronage in the early Heinan period. Later we walked through the tiny backstreets of Gion to the Gion corner, a small theatre tucked away in the backstreets to see a (touristy) traditional performance of Japanese arts starting with ... read more
Kyoto, a photographers dream
Kyogen, ancient comic play
Me as a Maiko, Gion quarter

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto October 13th 2015

Day 1 We got up at 5am from our hotel in Tokyo and checked out, we then headed to the train station to catch the amazing and world famous Bullet Train, we were early so we grabbed some sort of breakfast before getting on the train. Like excited kids waiting to get on "its a small world" at Disney, we ran up and down taking photos and admired the awesomeness of the train! I popped in to a shop to pick up drinks, Joe a coffee and me a tea. Coffee is easy, Tea on the other hand, well, she kept pointing at what looked like bottles in a fridge, I said "no, Hot tea" and she kept nodding and in the end took a bottle of green tea out of the fridge and guess what? ... read more
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Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto September 25th 2015

Friday 25th September 2015 On leaving Matsumoto, we took a local train for 60mins to Nagoya where we changed to the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. My first experience of the legendary bullet trains :-) A super spacious and speedy way to cross Japan. I'm a fan! We'd bought ourselves a Japan Rail Pass before we'd left the UK. At £242 per person for 14 days they weren't cheap but with unlimited travel on all JR routes including most of the Shinkansen lines, it was well worth the money, In Kyoto, we had booked ourselves into a business hotel which turned out to be a very compact self contained apartment. Japanese efficiency & planning at its best! Keen to see Kyoto, we started in Gion, Kyoto's most famous Geisha street. Whilst we were travelling out of ... read more
Ornate gate of Nijo Castle
The Silver Pavilion
On the hunt for biscuits...no-one is safe!

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Amanohashidate September 21st 2015

Basia twierdzi, że dziś cały dzień spędziliśmy w pociągu. Jest w związku tym nieco nieusatysfakcjonowana. Rzeczywiście jeśliby zliczyć czas jaki pochłonęło nam podróżowanie koleją to wyszłoby tego pewnie z 5 h, ale: 1. Musieliśmy się z tym liczyć bo nasz dzisiejszy cel podroży, Amanoshidate, leży co prawda w prefekturze Kyoto, ale ok 100 km od niego i do tego jedzie się tam zwykłym pociągiem a nie shinkanenem. 2. Dzień według mnie nie był stracony bo nawet podróże japońskim pociagiem kształcą i pewnie niejeden z czytających dałby wiele za to, żeby przejechać się 2 godziny lokalnym wagonem i popatrzeć na Japonie z jego okien. Czyż nie? Zanim wyjechaliśmy do Amanoshidate, wybraliśmy się na lokalny pchli targ, który organizuje się w centrum miasta, raz w miesiącu. Muszę przyznać, że trochę się nam udało bo taki rynek to prawdziwa ... read more
A to jakieś warzywa.
A to nie Fukushima.
Chair lift na punkt widokowy.

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto September 20th 2015

Bułka z masłem. Pamiętając o fakcie, że ściany zrobione są z drewna i papieru, wystarczy nastawić budzik na 6.30 a potem o 6.28 spokojnie wstać i jakby nigdy nic pójść na drugi koniec domu, wziąc kąpiel. Potem wrócić o 6.36, budzik wciaż wyje a z sąsiednich pokoi dobiega gwar niespokojnych głosów. Tak właśnie dziś uczyniłem i wcale nie jestem z siebie dumny. Sąsiedzi z pewością początkowo byli na mnie źli ale zaraz potem uzmysłowili sobie, do czego nie jestem w 100% przekonany, jak wiele skorzystają z tego dnia i w myślach byli mi wdzięczni za sprawnie przeprowadzoną akcję. Mam nadzieję... A jak prawie zgubić paszport podczas snucia się ulicami Kyoto? Nic prostszego. Wystarczy się wybrać na poranną przechadzkę małymi uliczkami, gdy prawie wszyscy jeszcze śpią, bo w ich hotelach nie ma takich zdrajcow jak ja, i ... read more
Oprócz pociągów kursuje tu tez regularny tramwaj. :-)
Idealna harmonia.
Pan tymi grabkami dalej czesze kamyczki...

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto September 19th 2015

Takie właśnie jest Kyoto. Bardziej tradycyjne, mnie zurbanizowane (poza centrum oczywiście) i nawet nasze lokum to stary guest house z papierowymi ścianami i pokojem na 4,5 tatami (tradycyjna japońska mata), czyli ok 8 m kw. Jednak od początku bo przecież rano musieliśmy tu jakoś dojechać. Wczoraj wspomniałem coś o niezatłoczonym Tokio. Cofam to. Aby zmienić zdanie wystarczy spróbować z plecakiem dobrnąć do peronu shinkansena (pociąg pocisk) przez cały dworzec Tokyo Station. Morze ludzi, każdy brnie w inną stronę. Każdy, jak nie Japończyk, rozpycha się łokciami i zapomina o wpojonej powciągliwości i takcie. Czuliśmy się jak u siebie :). Po podbiciu JRpassów na 1 bramce wszędzie wchodziliśmy za okazaniem naszego biletu panu kierownikowi peronu. Tak służbowo jakby. Na pociag. Wczoraj przed podróżą odrobiłem, jak mi się wydawało, lekcje i zapamiętałem, że nie możemy jechać najszybszym... read more
Bardziej zmniejszyć rozmiarów domu się już nie da.
Local train.
Hurra. Jestesmy w Kyoto.

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto September 9th 2015

It was a slightly disorientating trip down from Tokyo. When everyone was on the bus the driver closed every curtain including the one between the passengers and himself making it impossible to see anything outside. I always like being able to see out of at least the front window but without even that I felt like I was getting a little carsick! Another surprise was the total lack of any toilet on board. It was a 10-hour journey. True, we stopped twice within the first 3 hours but that still left at least a good 7 hours without a toilet. It wasn't a problem for me but I'm sure it's caught at least a few people out and other travellers should be conscious that it's not a given! Kyoto As usual I didn't sleep a wink ... read more
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