Blogs from Asia - page 3

After much internal deliberation, I arrived at Hiroshima. I knew this will be a tougher part of the journey, given what the city had been through, but I came with an attitude to see the city beyond the atomic bomb. First day, I went and explored the Shukkeien Garden. Built in the Edo period in the 17th century, this is a beautiful garden with the backdrop of Hiroshima city, with Koi ponds, lovely nature and a small bamboo grove. While small in size, I really enjoyed the nature here. This garden was a stone's throw away from the epicenter of the atomic bomb and had suffered extensive damage, but there are still trees here that survived the bomb and continue to grow. Nature has its ways to survive man's actions. The next day, I went on ... read more

So, volleyball is the national sport of Sri Lanka. You wouldn’t know it, given the number of cricket games we’ve seen in progress, even some with what looked like a tennis ball. But a great bonding opportunity with our driver Nishantha when we can discuss which Big Bash team we follow! After a long, boring and uncomfortable flight, which was topped off with what seemed like an equally long trip to the terminal, the rest of the formalities went off without a hitch and we arrived at our hotel at around 1am. No one really cared too much about the welcome drink but the aircon was very much appreciated. We were happy with a relaxed start to the day before a quick tour of Negombo and its lagoon before heading south towards Galle. A lunch stop ... read more

Early start to catch the Fuji Excursion train to Kawaghchiko. We managed to get our 3 days supplies into my big bag and 3 back-packs, after forwarding our other two bags to Kyoto. We left the hotel at 7:20 and reached Platform 9 at Shinjuku for the Fuji Excursion train with 30 minutes to spare. We departed on schedule at 8:30. The train is very comfortable, and the seats are7 wide enough, with the arm-rest up, for Oscar to sit between Krissy and Daisy. Oscar is young enough for a free ride, but no seat. You can take this train without a reserved seat but there is a risk you have to stand for the entire journey. About 45 minutes out, the terrain gets hilly and bushy and it feels like you've left Tokyo. We arrived ... read more

If there’s one thing Kyoto is famous for, it’s geisha (or geiko – which is the Kyoto dialect for geisha). If you’ve seen any pictures promoting Kyoto, you’ll undoubtedly have seen a woman wearing beautiful kimono, traditional hairstyles and her face painted in unique oshiroi make-up.Geisha roughly translates to “woman of the arts”. Their job includes performing traditional tea ceremonies while entertaining their guests by singing, playing traditional instruments (like the samisen), having conversations with them or even playing drinking games together. Becoming a geisha takes a lot of dedication and practice. The training of a maiko (apprentice geisha) usually starts when they’re 15 years old, and can last around five years. While they were much more popular in the past, there are still geishas in Japan today. Most of them live and work in Kyoto. ... read more

Quick Donki rummage before we checked out and stored our bags and then a few last gifts hunted before the boy humoured my monorail geek out and we did a few stops on the Chiba Monorail. It’s twinned with the Wuppertal Schwebeban we rode last year when inter-railing. Back into the centre for a burger lunch before hanging out at Tokyo Beach for Gatchas, sunset, disco stairs and Gundam. We had booked Team Labs Planet as a way to kill time when our flight got moved and it was pretty good, said goodbye to Shinjuku cat and we’re at Haneda awaiting a monstrous journey home. Hopefully it helps with the jet lag. Zzzzzz... read more