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Published: September 5th 2007
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Dancing
The Japanese 'carnival' type dancing in the streets I arrived in style... on my very own private Jumbo. Ok, maybe not private but it was a
huge jumbo. I think the best airline so far, Japan Airlines.....It was fairly late in the evening when I arrived and it was actually raining - bugger I thought, but I managed to get to my hotel ok. I met a Spanish girl who I arranged to go out with the next day....
The sun was shining and off we went, walking around Tokyo. This girl had already been here before and knew her way around which was nice to let someone take the lead.
It was a Sunday and loads of festivals and music performances were going on. People dressed in all sorts of weird and wonderful Japanese style outfits and dancing in the streets, bands playing in the park and just generally out and about being active.... this place is WICKED! Later on we went for some food... Japanese Omlettes (they are great) and thanks to DanB...I had already had these in London so knew how to make them. The only difference is that in London the skilled waiters/waitresses cook them for you but here, its a DIY job! We had
Statue of Liberty
Mental, a Statue of Liberty. Here posing with a Japanese girl... they love their pics taken with foreigners and always ask for them. Also, the peace sign is something they do ALL the time so when in Rome... our own hot plate and away we went! Bloody lovely!
Unfortunately the Spanish girl left so I was left to my own devices....so I went out to explore the city...Tokyo Tower and Odaiba Island. This place is mental. They have their very own Statue of Liberty. There is a little stretch of water and a beach so people were windsurfing and kids playing on the sand... very cool indeed. I saw all the skyscrapers, went up the Metropolitan Government building... where you get a pretty impressive view of the whole city.
I ended up with more time in Japan than I initially planned so I had to try and work out what to do with myself...and wanted to try and fit in as many places as possible but typical Jo did no research before heading off, thinking I would only be in Tokyo. I soon found out that it is REALLY expensive to travel and it is recommended to buy something called a JR pass to use on the rail system. Thing is, you have to buy it before you get into Japan - DOH! Loads of people had recommended a place called Kyoto.... but it was going to cost
Aerial view
Me at the top of the Metropolitan Government Building... great view. around 120 fine British pounds... quite a lot when you are backpacking.... I researched different ways and came up with a plan.....I would do a night journey on the bus, half the money and I would also save on a hostel for the night. Excellent plan. I also booked myself on a trip to Mount Fuji... How abitious of me... well, you gotta do these things while you can :-)
Up I got the next day at the crack of dawn and onto the bus toward Mount Fuji....I only had time to do this in a day and get the last bus back to Tokyo in time for my bus to Kyoto that evening.... I foolishly had no idea how long it would take to get up and down but soon realised I would need more than the 5 hours I had. Oh well.... I managed to get to the 7th station which is about 2700 meters high (although you do start fairly high). The top was another 1000 meters off and I would have loved to do it but it would have been 3 more hours and a) I had no time, b) not well enough equipped in terms
Mount Fuji
What a view and what a climb! It would have taken another 3 hours to the top...phew! of clothing etc etc. Weather conditions were becoming severe... I got some good views and pics so am happy with that!
That evening, I got onto the bus (after taking about 45 mins to find the right place, Shinjuku station has to be the MOST complicated station I have ever visited in my life) luckily a girl hand took me and even waved me off... these people are just so nice! Who would do that in London?? :-) I finally got to Kyoto early in the morn and got myself to the hostel, absolutely knackered.... After an hours kip on the living ropom sofa, I found myself surrounded by people having their breakfast...I got chatting to some girls and found myself tagging along with them for the whole day. We went to visit some amazing temples, set in really rich and green landscape...Japan is very green indeed and so clean.
I would have liked to visit some other neighbouring places but it is just so expensive without the rail pass.... one to keep in mind for next time. I stayed in Kyoto for 3 days... visiting as much as poss and meeting new people. I found a great hostel called
Golden Temple
For more pics, check out my Facebook page! J-Hoppers.....
By Friday, it was time to head up north-ish to see my friend Ben who has been teaching English and living in Japan for the last year and a bit....so I got on another bus and off I went....Ben was waiting or me at the bus stop... ahhh, how lovely to see a familiar face. We dropped off my stuff, got ready and quickly set off for a night on the town. Ben lives near a place called Iida and its set a little bit in the country, very pretty indeed....
We prompltly arrived to a restaurant, ordered some beers and some lovely Japanese food! Yum! We were soon joined by some of Ben's mates who are also teachers so it was a nice crowd of people. We moved on to some different places... more drinks were had... :-) this was actually the 1st time I had been drunk since leaving the UK.... by the end of the night, we were all singing karaoke in a little bar...hehehe!
The next day we awoke with slight hangovers to a sunny day so we soon got ready and went out to explore.... Ben took me to his school, I met some of his students and got to see how beautiful this place is during the day.... lakes, mountains etc... We decided it was nice enough to go to the local waterpark and have some fun on the slides.... ;-)
This was loads of fun.... and we also went in the pools etc... although one funny thing, every hour for 10 minutes everyone has to get out of the water and do stretches to some funny kind of Japanese music... we just watched all the kids and laughed... they are so sweet!
We were a bit pushed for time by the end as we hadn't realised that the last bus back to Tokyo left at 7pm.... I made it with little time to spare.... I had to get back as my next flight was in the morning.......
I got back to Tokyo very late at night and made my way to the hostel to get a few hours of much needed sleep before heading off the next day...
I was actually quite sad to be leaving Japan..... I think this is a great place with so much more to explore. Tokyo has to be one of my favourite cities so far. There is so much to see and loads going on... people out and about on the streets and such great food to be tasted! The people are extremely friendly and helpful... and thankfully they speak a bit more English. I would definitely consider coming back here and staying for a longer period of time...so many places, not enough time to do it all!
After having this great time... I arrived in Hong Kong extremely tired with only 2 days to check it out.... I will write more about this next time!
LOADS OF LOVE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
FOR MORE PHOTOS, PLEASE CHECK OUT MY FACEBOOK PAGE! :-)
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Eben
non-member comment
YEAH!
High five basically... JAPAN ROCKS.