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October 28th 2012
Published: October 28th 2012
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So here we are, my first real blog!

We have done so much, it feels like we've been away forever already, it's not even been 2 weeks! I'm sitting in our hotel in Beijing, China, with my diary open ready to write and I can't believe we have done so much! It could be a long blog, make a cup of tea!! 😉

15/10/12

I shall start at the beginning...it's a very good place to start! Our plane journey was pretty successful, a nice Virgin flight! Thanks to Claire and Kiran, we got to enjoy a lovely lounge before our flight. It was nice to relax before we headed off on our big scary (and exciting) adventure! We had some nice food and nibbles (started off the day as it continued!). Plane journey was good, 12 hours but it didn't seem to take that long really, what with all the food that kept being brought to us- constant supply!! (One perk of never being able to sleep on a plane I'd say!!) we had snack, then dinner, then ice cream, then snack, then breakfast and all interspersed with drinks!! Lovely! Watched 3 films, plus a couple of tv programmes and I did not get a wink of sleep! The journey was very quiet though which was nice- all the Japanese (and that was most of the flight) slept soundly most of the way!

16/10/12

So, we arrived in Tokyo at about 8.45am local time. Had quite a long immigration queue, by the time we got through, our bags had been placed by the side of the now empty baggage carousel! Nice, helpful lady at the train ticket desk helped us to choose the right train to Ueno- our first destination. We chose the slower train at a price of ¥1,000, around £8.50. It took bloody ages (75 mins) and was boiling, I was falling asleep by the end, Chantelle was trying to keep me awake! 😊 We decided to get a taxi to our hotel as we were exhausted, hot and didn't really know which way to head! Chantelle cleverly had taken photos of all our hotel names and addresses in Japanese so we just showed this to the taxi driver. The taxi doors are automatic- no need to open or close them!! We got to our hotel a few hours early so paid for early check in, waited for our room to be made up and went for a quick walk and to get a drink and snack (crips and Oreos of course!) We checked into our hotel room, and it fine good- small 'semi-double' bed as seems popular (cheaper) in Japan. Room had a fridge, air-con and decent bathroom. We managed to resist temptation to sleep and headed out to explore the local area. We came across some interesting buildings including a huge temple (at the time it seemed huge- now we have seen others, it doesn't!) We ended up at a large gate to a big temple- Sensoji temple. Had a beautiful pagoda and 2 massive gates to it. It was very impressive. We then walked towards the river and saw tokyo sky tower (or sky tree as is sometimes called). It claims to be the tallest building in the world but I'm not sure whether it is or not! We didn't go up to it as it was across the river. We were extremely tired by now so went in search of some food. We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant and had giant prawn tempura and rice. I was so tired that my appetite vanished and I could barely keep my eyes open, so didn't really eat anything! We headed back to the hotel and made it to 6.30 before falling asleep. Woke up 2 hours later and dozed for an hour before being wide awake...! Not sure how on so little sleep! Did manage to go back to sleep and woke at 6am!

17/10/12

We had looked through some leaflets from our hotel and decided we wanted to go Ueno zoo today, as it was very close by. We walked there and found we were quite close to the train station. Found a Starbucks and got some breakfast (Japanese version of course- the cinnamon roll is totally different to the English cinnamon swirl!! 😉 The zoo is located inside Ueno Onshi Park, there were lots of museums inside the park too. We couldn't work out then self service ticket machine, which turned out to be a good thing as the lady at the counter gave us a discount for being tourists (had to show our passports) and a Tokyo handy map, which was very handy! We only paid ¥480 each to go into the zoo- about £4. Totally worth it, a great zoo with pandas, a pokar bear, okapis, giraffes, elephants, bears and red pandas Plus loads more. After the zoo we went down to the lake inside the park and hired a swan pedalo for half an hour (¥700) It was an impressive sight on the lovely lake with the big skyscrapers in the background! We wandered around the rest of Onshi Park and saw a shrine- well, tried to, it was closed for restoration work but the picture outside looked very impressive! We left the park and headed into a busier area, with lots of lights and amusemento and bargain shops and market stalls etc. we definitely felt more like we were in Tokyo now! It was a cool place- Okachimachi. We headed back towards Ueno to find the Denny's we'd seen the night before- we fancied a nice burger and chips! Took us ages to find it and it was raining so we were soaked by the time we did, only to find it was a Japanese Denny's! No burger and chips here!! We did find an American club sandwich with potato wedges so both settled for this!! And no diet coke in Japan! Coke and if you're lucky, coke zero! Headed back to the hotel in the rain to dry off and sleep 😊

18/10/12

We checked out of our Ueno hotel and took the metro to Kiba for our capsule hotel. We bought a day metro pass to get around. We found the metro system very easy to navigate and utilise, think it helped having lived in (near) london! It didn't feel daunting! Occasionally the trains were very busy- rush hours mainly but everyone in Japan is polite and waits so we didn't have any problems really, even with our ginormous back packs! We found our hotel with some help from crossing guards and the iPad with the hotel name and address!! It was A 1 minute walk from the metro station. We left our luggage at the hotel but were too early to check in so we headed off to the Imperial Palace using the metro. Really enjoyed looking round the remains of the Imperial Palace, the location of the former Edo castle. Luckily we found an English guide map in the shop so we knew what we were looking at. Some of the guardhouses still remained, and there was a tea house and the walls were pretty magnificent. And some lovely gardens too. It was a little rainy and the mozzies came out whilst we were sheltering from the rain and attacked our ankles! I also got talking to an English couple whilst we were hiding from the rain (you'd think we'd have all been used to it really!!) and they very kindly gave us their spare tokyo handy guide, and told us a couple of places they'd been. (Their daughter was working in tokyo, so they had some inside knowledge!) We headed to Ginza after looking through the guide, which is the brand shopping district of Tokyo. All the designer shops you'd expect and some cool buildings too- one made of glass bricks! Found somewhere to have lunch- Italian of course!! Looked round a little more of Ginza, was hoping to see the kabuki theatre but it was closed for refurb- pattern forming!! We headed back to our hotel to check in, the capsule was such a good experience, I'm glad we did it. Our own little capsule with pjs and slippers! You get a locker to leave your things in but our rucksacks stayed with all the others at reception! The staff were really friendly too and spoke good English! We sorated our stuff and headed out on the metro for Akihabara, in search of electric city. All glowing lights and huge amusements, comic stores, random Japanese women dressed up etc. Was a fun place. Grabbed some dinner and headed back to the capsule! Managed to sleep ok considering, I'd recommend a capsule hotel to all, but I think one night is enough!

19/10/12

We checked out of our little capsule after a good shower- shared bathroom had really good amenities, you can literally turn up with nothing therheaded got the metro to tokyo station to get our Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets sorted for our journey to Hiroshima. We had bought an exchange order for our Japan rail pass before we left so we had to exchange this for our pass at tokyo. The staff were really helpful and spoke brilliant English. They have reserved and non-reserved seats on the bullet trains. The next available train had no reserved seats left so we booked a seat on the one after, though one behind each other as none left side by side. When we got on the train 2 ladies who were together had been seated behind each other like us, so they kindly swapped so we could sit together. The train was brilliant. So much leg room and seats that recline much further than a plane! Very spacious seats and everyone so quiet. No phones allowed! (Nor on the metro or normal trains either for that matter) Had to change trains at Shin-Osaka to get to Hiroshima, where our seats were split across the aisle. But the trains are so quiet you don't want to talk anyway! We read a lot!! When we arrived at Hiroshima we got a taxi to our hotel. It was nice, similar to the first, basic but comfortable and a decent bathroom again. (And free wifi-yay!!) We went for a walk around Hiroshima, we walked down to the the river by Hijiyama park along the Boulevard of peace. We saw a with and decided to go to the 'nightspot' area. Hmm, slight mistake- slightly dodgy shops, though interspersed with good cake shops and we did manage to find a drugstore to get some cream for our mozzy bites! We managed to escape the dodgy area and walked straight into designer shop area- couldn't get more different really! We wandered for ages looking for food, refusing to go into McDonald's (we'd already been once in Tokyo!) We found an Italian/ Japanese place and had a rather nice meat sauce doria- almost like a lasagne but instead of pasta they used rice! It was tasty! Went back to the hotel and did some hand washing in the sink like proper travellers!!

20/10/12

We headed straight out to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial museum. It was a short walk from our hotel. Very interesting learning about the first atomic bomb and seeing lots of the artefacts and things left behind (not much!!) I won't bore you all with the history! We paid a whole ¥50 to get into the museum- a whopping 40p! Worth the money I'd say! We went out into the Peace Memorial Park after the museum and saw the Cenotaph for the A-bomb victims, and various other memorials, including the children's peace monument, inspired by a little girl sho survived the bombings seemingly unharmed yet later died from leukaemia caused by the bomb. We then went over to see the A-bomb dome- one of the only buildings to still be standing after the bomb. The dome roof still holds its shape, with just the framework surviving. It is now a protected peace site. We then walked to Hiroshima castle. We went inside one area where we had to take our shoes off and put little plastic clogs on to walk around! We then 'purified' ourselves with water outside the shrine there- a special ritual before prayer. The water troughs and ladles are outside pretty much every shrine in Japan. We went up the (restored) castle tower, which we paid ¥300 to enter. Unfortunately most of the writing was Japanese only so we couldn't read much. I did dress up in some funky Japanese clothes though! (Picture on Chantelle's Facebook somewhere!) We trekked up to the top floor for the lookout and had great views across Hiroshima (in between the sky scrapers!) We then headed to Shukkeien gardens. It cost ¥250 to get in. They were very beautiful and serene with giant bamboo, a lake with koi carp, tea houses, etc. A peaceful place! We walked back to the hotel and looked for a japanese restaurant to have dinner in on the way back. We had to order and pay for our food at a machine and then sit down and they took the receipts for our food! A proper japanese meal- it was tasty. Pork (we think!) in breadcrumbs, a coleslaw type salad, miso soup, sticky rice and dips. We headed back to the hotel to pack up to move again!

21/10/12

We headed to Hiroshima station to get the Shinkansen to Kyoto. The first leg of the journey on the next train was sold out so we had to go in one of the unreserved carriages. Luckily it was extremely empty so got seats together no problem. Had to change again at Shin-Osaka, but for only a 14 minute journey from there to Kyoto. Got a taxi to the hotel (driver finally found it after apologising for not knowing the address-which we had in Japanese- after he rang the hotel to find it was on the main road!!) We were too early for check in so we left our luggage and headed off to Higashi Honganji temple- the largest wooden structure in the world. Learnt a bit about Shin-Buddhism and when it was built and who for etc. Of course, some of it was under reconstruction!! We had to take our shoes off and carry them around in a plastic bag to walk around inside. We headed back to the hotel to check in. Our room was brilliant- best by far. An apartment hotel, we had a fully integrated kitchen, plasma tv with CNN, wifi, the bathroom was good. Really lovely hotel. We felt very relaxed here. Would recommend this chain to others- Citadines. We will try and stay in one in China too. They are good value. We headed into Gion in search of an elusive Geisha! Gion is quite busy, a big tourist spot. We went and saw the Yasaka Shrine, quite an impressive few buildings. Walked back into Gion and down a traditional street. We ended up at Gion corner- where there is a theatre and was advertising traditional acts from Japanese theatre. We had a discount voucher so decided we'd like to see it. Unfortunately it was pretty disappointing, and it was dark andninwas tired and i actually dozed off a couple of times...me sleeping in a theatre?! Not something that is usually very likely! After the show however, we got a glimpse of a real life geisha pulling up in a taxi! I snuck a photo of her but then others started taking them and she covered her face. She was waiting for another geisha who we saw scurry out of her apartment and into the taxi. Yay, 2 real geisha! Mission accomplished! We headed back to the hotel and made use of the laundry facilities there!

22/10/12

We headed out to find the Kinkakuji Temple (or Golden Pavillion) first thing. We got the subway as close as we could (we bought a one day pass for ¥600) and then walked the rest of the way. This took rather longer than anticipated- a good 45 minutes and it was hot! We finally made it and have to say we were a little disappointed with it after the trek! It did look pretty all golden sitting in the lake with the sun shining down but there was no information in english and you couldn't go inside the Pavililion and there was little else to see. We felt a bit short changed from our ¥400 entry price when it is supposed to be Kyoto's number one attraction! We decided to get a bus back to the subway station and hopped on the first one that came. You have to buy your ticket as you leave the bus by putting the correct fare into a machine! ¥220 flat fare wherever you go- not bad! We took the subway to Niji to go to Nijo castle. Paid ¥600 to go in here. It was quite interesting and we got to look around Honmaru palace inside with its painted walls and nightingale floor. There were some lovely gardens here too. We then headed to Kyoto Imperial Palace Park with a view to look at the palace. Unfortunately it is only open to prebooked tours so we couldn't go in or even see the palace. So that was a little disappointing! We then headed out to Fushimi Inari shrine (thanks to Karen Ruddell for finding this gem!) It was quite a mission to get to as well but was more than worth it when we got there. Beautiful shrines and thousands upon thousands of red gates. We walked up hills and hundreds of steps for what felt like hours and hours (it was about 1 hour!) and we finally came to a fantastic view of Kyoto at dusk. Was worth the climb! We then decided to head down, thinking that it went round in a big circle (so the map leads you to believe!) Well we ended up at a dead end in the middle of a forest. We then had to walk back up the way we had just come down- warnin. 2 American girls not to do as we had done! We walked back out the way we came with them and a Dutch guy who was heading for the exit too. We were all chatting which was nice! We stopped at the view of kyoto again- this time in darkness. A fantastic view. We finally made it out and decided to get the train to Kyoto as it was quicker and easier- and only ¥240. We were exhausted by this time having been on our feet all day. We stopped at the 7/11 across the road from our hotel to get some noodles etc to make for dinner in our apartment. A good day out in Kyoto. 😊

23/10/12

We packed up again and checked out. We left our luggage at the hotel and headed to Toji temple, home of the tallest pagoda in Japan, and a world heritage site. Unfortunately it was raining so were quite wet by the time we arrived there! We paid ¥500 to go into the section with the temples and pagoda. Inside the temples were lots of Buddah statues. In one there were 21, all different sizes- some huge! And in the second hall was a massive Buddah, some 50 metres tall, surrounded by other statues. It was quite an impressive sight. We walked around the rest of the temple site, looking at the shrines etc. As it was still raining we just decided to pick up our luggage and head to the station. We got on our last Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo and headed for our hotel in Nishi-kasai on the metro. Was easy to find and we checked in and headed to our room for the night, basic but fine as the others!

24/10/12

We got up early and got a free shuttle bus from our hotel to Disney. Walked from the bus stop to the Sheraton and dropped off our luggage there. We got a 2 day monorail pass for ¥800. We were at the park before it opened at 8.30! We decided to get a 3 day pass for Disney as we knew we would want to go back!! We went on the usual rides, unfortunately Thunder Mountain was closed, sad times! We made use of the fastpass system. Just as well, as it was so so busy!! Parades were great, special Halloween one which was good fun too. The electrical parade was fantastic, really long and very impressive! The fireworks after were a let down though! Very short and not great- they did have pumpkin and skull fireworks though which were clever (Halloween theme!) Park closed at 10 and then we headed back to our Sheraton luxury! We enjoyed the space!

25/10/12

Headed to DisneySea today. This was a great park, extremely busy but really well done with impressive buildings and some new rides! Was nice to experience somewhere new. We tried to get a fastpass for toy story mania, but the queue just for fastpass was so long that we decided we'd give it a miss, seeing as we did it in Florida. We made excellent use of the fastpass today for tower of terror and journey to the centre of the earth which was a really fun ride! Highly recommended! Also the Indianna jones ride- not like the Paris one but like the dinosaur ride at universal if anyone has been on that! That was good fun. We went on pretty much everything in DisneySea...we found we had enough time to do what we wanted and more. They love their popcorn over there and had some flavours from the yummy (apple cinnamon) to the disgusting (curry) and lots more in between (strawberry, butter with soy sauce) We watched the afternoon show on the lake which was brilliantly done. And also the night show- Fantasmic. This was also amazing, really well done with the space they had on the lake. Was really impressed. We were going to watch the fireworks until we realised they craftily shared the Disneyland park ones...didn't need to watch them again so headed to a ride!! Last drop on the tower of terror before back to the lovely hotel!!

26/10/12

We checked out and left our luggage at the hotel and went to enjoy our last bit of time at the magical world of Disney (Until Hong Kong!) Went in both parks and did the rides we wanted to do again. Headed back to use the wifi in the hotel before collecting our luggage and getting the monorail from the bayside hotels station to the JR Maihama station and got 2 trains to get to our hotel. We checked in and relaxed for a bit before re-packing our bags ready for our flights to china in the morning. Tokyo-shanghai and then shanghai-beijing!

Time to say Sayonara Japan and Nihau China!

Sorry if I bored you all with this extremely long blog! Will try and keep the China ones shorter and more frequent! 😊 There is no Facebook in china...it's banned! So will be on here, whatsapp and skype when we have wifi.

Love to all. Missing everyone already! xxxxxx

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7th November 2012

Wel jel
It's all sounds great but ain't the beds hard in China? It's like sleeping on a door. So pleased you are having a great time x x

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