Day 14 - Tokyo

Today is our last full day in Tokyo so we tried to get in a few items we missed last time. We ended up sleeping in till about 10am due to being out so late last night (and drinking a bit much) - we were even a bit grumpy until we got some food in our bellies. Noodles today and they were great (cold noodles that you drop into the bowl of hot soup)!!

We hopped a train and headed to Ueno to check out this shopping market (Ameyoko Market) where haggling is acceptable and they supposedly have great deals on items - even fake bags and such. I have been looking for a hard case suitcase to take back all the goods we have bought. I see them everywhere and they come in such wonderful colors. They have been running between 125 and up so I was hoping for a bargain. We found a few places and by the 3rd place I found the one I wanted, hot pink hard case and he gave it to us for 9500 yen - score!! I love it!

After the market we headed to Harajuku in hopes of seeing some of the Harajuku kids. They are supposedly all over the place on a Sunday but since we haven't been in Tokyo for a Sunday we thought we'd see what was happening in that area... Sadly, not much. tons of people shopping, a few fashionable questionable and even cool people wandering... Honestly thought I feel like I saw more foreigners there than any of the other areas of town... Especially in the toy shop we stopped in. I'm still glad we went though as it offered some interesting shops which we haven't seen before.

We stocked up on a few Hello Kitty items and then called it good. I hate to admit it but I'm a bit shopped out and I haven't bought any clothing or shoes for myself... which is killing me! The shopping and food here are by far some of the best I have seen. The shoes seem to be a .5 size to big and their largest size is one size to small for me. Boooo! I haven't really looked very hard though so maybe somewhere in Japan they have a store suitable for me. I am going to try and re-create some of the cool fashion ensembles I have seen here!

After our big day out we headed back to the Westin to relax and nap before our dinner date with our new friends. We cleaned up and headed back to Manta where they were waiting for us with 2 saved seats. We had our Orion beers and were given a delicious pork and something appetizer. Then we were given this amazing grade A7 fatty tuna that Gushi Kawa-san had gone to the market to get that morning. It is worth 25,000 yen a kilo and he bought it for us to share. He is such a nice man. We are so glad to have met him. Tamami is the woman we met with him and she speaks English which has helped us so much in this budding friendship with them. She is great!! Gussan is the guy who works at Manta and is also super friendly. He brought us Manta t-shirts which made Jeff so happy. We gave them some Seattle pictures we bought and a Seattle pin. We also gave them our information and said anytime they want to come to Seattle, we have a room for them!

We ordered several items off the menu, with Tamami's help, and shared them all. The food there is typical in Okinawa... actually the whole place is all about Okinawa and we've been invited to Okinawa in 2010. We have to go! To explain the evening would be hard, just like last night... So, yet again, words are failing me and just know that it was a perfect end to this trip. The hospitality we have come across from everyone makes us feel so warm and happy inside. We will be back Japan, we love everything about you! Sayonara for now! (Day 15 will probably not be added until we are back in Seattle).

Day 13 - Kyoto/Tokyo

Checked out of our hotel and headed North again to see the Kinkakuji (the golden temple) and the zen rock garden. It's out by the onsen we went to so we dropped our bags off in a locker at Kyoto station and headed out that way.

Both were pretty easy to find and we used the bus to help us get around. It was also an overcast day so it rained a bit but nothing more than what we get back home... drizzle.

The zen rock garden was our first stop and I joked that we were paying to stare at rocks... which we were but it was pretty nonetheless. Plus I believe John Mayer was here a few months back (I saw a picture on his website) so there was that. ;) We walked around the grounds snapping photos and finally discovered what that wonderful smell was, it is a flowering bush. Jeff snagged a few of the little flowers as he has been pressing leaves and stuff like that in his book. He seems to like doing that, who knew.

After the garden we hopped a bus and headed to the golden palace. It is beautiful and very gold! We took a ton of pictures which I hope to post soon (facebook has been pooping out on me). We had a little sit down for tea time and they gave us a sweet and green tea. It's so crazy that our trip is almost over!

Kyoto is now officially over so we headed back to the station to catch our 3:30 train to Tokyo - it's a 2 hour trip. We ate our lunch we bought at the kiosk and then I napped most of the ride.

Once in Tokyo we found ourselves following the same path we had at our very first days here. It's much easier now!! We checked into the Westin and then decided we wanted to eat Neapolitan pizza for dinner which we were both excited for! We headed to Partenope, the same place we had gone last time around. It was just that good!! For dinner we had their buffalo mozzarella pizza, a salad and tried a pasts this time as well. OMG it was soooo good!!! We even finished a bottle of prosecco as well. A few of the staff members remembered us from last time and chatted with as much as they could. Jeff took pictures and talked more with the people who work there. He even gave his San Marzano pin to the server we had from last time. I don't think I can even explain how much fun we had, just know it was memorable!

After dinner we walked out of the restaurant and saw a guy at another restaurant across the street just standing there. I waved to him and he waved back. We went over there for a drink - it was an Indian restaurant. We chatted with the guy who worked there, he was from Nepal and has been here 3 years. His English was great. Then after that we decided to go see if that tiny bar we went to last time was open... it was so we went in and sat down. They only have 8 seats and 4 were free. We ended up staying there till about 3am chatting and drinking with the patrons and the guy working the place. One woman there spoke English due to living in NY for a few years so she helped. We took a ton of pictures with them and they asked us to come back tomorrow at 7:30 for sushi as the older guy is a sushi chef. We are totally going!!! Amazing night!!!

Day 12 - Nara/Kyoto

This morning we had breakfast at the Kyoto station - they have all these amazing cafes with bread goods that I have never tasted before. I will miss all these yummy treats when we leave!!! After eating we hoped a train to Nara for a little day trip. The train ride was maybe an hour, not very long. We rented some bikes so we could get around pretty easily and get it all done in a reasonable time.

Riding through the town was fun. I had pictured a small town but it looked just like all the other ones until we ventured into the park, then it looked like what I thought it would. There were deer there too, actually they were everywhere. some would come p and nibble on your shirt or pocket in hopes you'd feed them - crazy!

First on our list was to see some shrines and the giant Buddah all of which were in this giant park... it's a lovely area and really easy to navigate on the bike. The Buddah was my favorite, it is so large and just amazing to see. I think Jeff and I each took 50 or so pictures.

After seeing the shrines and riding through the park we decided to ride through the shopping/food area. We stopped for lunch at a small cafe and had some yummy food as always. Then it was back to the station to retunr the bikes and catch our train at 5:40pm.

Tonight we decided to visit another onsen but a nicer one outside of town a bit. After chilling in the room for a bit we packed up our bath supplies and headed to North Kyoto around 8pm to a small neighborhood. We wandered and wandered trying to find this place... We asked a woman and she said to go straight... so we did... but then Jeff thought that we had either gone to far or were going in the wrong direction. We cut into the neighborhood and wandered... no luck. Jeff asked a girl for help and she told us to hold on by gestering to wait a min and went and got her father (Gaijin! Gaijin!), he came out along with the son and mother in their PJ's to try and help us. They also said to go back to where we were and go straight... Ok, back to where we where. I then told Jeff about how my friend Christine told me that the Japanese will help you no matter what sometimes even if they don't know and it's good to ask 3 times and go with the majority. So I went into a Family Mart and asked the guy and he also said to go straight but added "Supa!" and made a big motion... I said ok and straight we went...

Then low and behold, 4 blocks down by a large supermarket was the onsen! Horray!! This place was amazing. It looks like the Nordstrom on Onsens. It's fancy, clean and very relaxing. Get ready for it... It cost only $10 to get in for the whole day... They are open till 1am! It has a men and womens side and eeach side has 10 or so tubs/pools/relaxation areas. This place was so swanky but filled with families and everyday people. (I will say that people did look at me a bit more here. There was one other foreigner there and said said hi to me... Noone else did.) They just go there to relax. It also has massage chairs all over the place and massage available. Jeff and I signed up for that which was 6350 yen a person, roughly about $65 for an hour. When I was up for my massage the woman showed me a piece of paper she had written down "where is tender place" - I showed her my shoulders and lower back. She worked it out for sure, it was an amazing massage and I was fully clothed on a mat.

We walked out of there after 2 hours having spent maybe $150. You couldn't get out of Nordstrom Spa for that little for 2 people for all that we did. I wish we could have stayed longer but we were worried that we would have no train available back to our hotel.

We headed out of there at about 11ish and thankfully the JR rail was running but the subway wasn't. Once back in Kyoto we had to walk aways back to our hotel but that was ok. It was pretty late when we got back so it was Family Mart for dinner... sandwiches from the cooler. You may laugh but the food that comes out of those places here is just as good as most places. We have had no bad food here yet. :)

Another great day!!

I'm trying to upload pictures so stay tuned!!

Day 11 - Kyoto

This morning we checked out of the Bakpak Hostel and into the Toyoko-Inn. It's cheaper and 100 times nicer!! We took the subway to visit the Kiyomizu-dera temples, it was beautiful and there was this wonderful smell we couldn't find. It smelled liked peaches or something, we searched and searched... The temple and area was really nice and I think we should have good luck for quite sometime as we rubbed rocks, got our fortune, drank holy water, etc...

After leaving the temple we stopped for coffee at some little local coffee shop. The older guy who owns it gave us this amazing coffee... It was infused or something, I'd never seen coffee made the way he did it. Once we finished that we wandered the city, checking out shops and walking quite a bit. I also believe we found a geisha neighborhood. Some boys asked us to take their picture for them and we asked what the place was and Jeff heard "very delicious" and I heard "many geisha". Jeff responded delicious and if they said what I thought they said then Jeff looks like a huge perv!

Lunch was at a surf cafe that we found. I had this fantastic tune fish sandwhich and salad and Jeff had some spicy ramen dish that he is still raving about. After tasting my sandwich he said "I like tuna fish now, we're going to have to start making this at home". HAHA! Japan has opened him up to all sorts of foods that he now likes. Sounds like we'll be recreating some of the dishes we've had here at home.

I ended up buying a few more souveniers and then we started making our way back towards our area of town. We stopped at the station and picked up our bags from the lockers we stashed them in and then headed to the hotel. Once settled Jeff and Sean skyped for an hour or so while I got ready and then we heded out for dinner - sushi! Jeff had read of this cheap but good sushi place in the Kyoto station so we went there. It was both cheap and good so good call on that one!

We decided to have some sake after and found a cool place by our hotel where we had this sake sampler. I found a new brand of sake I really like, hope they have it at home!!

Here are pictures from the day!

Day 10... Whoops, forgot something!

I can't believe I left out a huge experience from day 10!! Jeff and I went to our first Onsen. What an onsen is is a bath house. I actually had to walk around naked in front of Japanese women of all ages (mostly older). It was very weird at first but I got over it pretty quickly.

After you undress and put your stuff in your locker you take your wash cloth and head into the area with all the different pools. Most are hot and have either some sort of mineral (one was purple and one looked milky), or electric currents (very freaky, esp if you didn't know it was there), jets, no jets, and a cold dip. This old lady told me what to do in a round about way as I think she could tell I was super confused. There is this area where you are supposed to pull up a little chair, sit down and basically scrub yourself clean. It's a bit weird sitting there showering in front of people but they are doing the same thing. Then once you are clean enough you can partake in the different pools or sauna. I had read some people use modesty towels but I didn't see anyone with one so I left my little towel they gave me in my locker.

The onsen is same sex so you're not walking around with guys. I would not have done that as that would have freaked me out. Jeff will share with you his experience I am sure.

As for the electric current pool, I had no idea it was emitting electrodes so when I got it it scared me to death as it gave me jolts and actuallt felt painful. It was only on one side of the pool so I moved to the other side and just kind of laughed. Later an old lady got in and I put my finger in there and made a funny face at her, she just laughed and goty in it. She was able to just stand there, no problem. Apparently it's top stimulate blood flow and metabolism. Maybe that is the secret to being thin! I found a blog of a woman who lives in Japan about Onsen Etiquette. It's worth reading. She even has pictures. I can honestly say I wasn't about to snap picts in there!!

Day 10 - Miyajima

Today was our day to catch the ferry for Miyajima as a side day trip. We have now officially traveled by air, land (train and bike), sea (ferry) and foot. The train to Miyajima was really quick, just 8 quick stops and then we hopped off and got directly on the ferry. It was free with our JR Pass - man that things has really paid for itself!! As we boarded the ferry we noticed that this was the first time we'd seen so many foreigners such as ourselves. They sounded to be more from Europe and Australia though, didn't notice any other Americans.

The ferry was a 10 minute ride to the island and of course very photogenic. The red archway is one of the top 3 most photographed items in Japan so I'm sure you'll recognize it. We were a bit worried it was going to be a giant tourist trap but we were very wrong, it was beautiful and I would definitely stay there for atleast a night.

One we got of the ferry we rented two bikes (best idea ever!) and headed out. I instantly saw the deer and insisted on petting them. We weren't sure if they would go for that but they sure did. Didn't even bat an eyelash, they were like tame dogs, but smellier. The funniest moment was when we stopped to take our picture with the archway in the background and left our bags along with a paper map in the basket of our bikes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 deer sniffing our stuff quite aqggressively. Then the one grabbed the map and started eating it. Jeff rushed over and tried to save the map and the deer from this not so helthy snack but was unable to do so. The deer was so funny he stood on the rest of it so Jeff couldn't take it from him. We kind of had to shove the deer out of the way to get the rest of the paper back. He didn't want to give it up. I snapped pictures and laughed so loud and so hard while Jeff wrestled with Bambi. It was so funny!!! After that we kept an eye on our stuff for fear they would try and eat my purse just for the hell of it.

After all that excitement we parked the bikes and checked out the local shrine and pagoda. I swear, Japanese buildings are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The architectual design is just amazing. I've seen pictures of course but seeing them in person is beyond what I thought they would look like. If I could have a house like that I totally would! Not sure how well it would work in with the neighborhood but who cares. :)

We got to participate in our first shrine hand washing which was cool. Jeff laughed at me b/c the only reason I knew what to do was b/c I saw a video on youtube. It's amazing what kind of info you can find out there! Miyajima was great and after a few hours of just cruising around, shopping and snacking it was time to head back to Hiroshima to catch the train to Kyoto.

Kyoto was just over 2 hours and pretty easy to do - just one train change. Once we arrived we had to figure out how to get from the Kyoto station to the gion neighborhood where our Bakpak hostel was... The hostel was in a great location - right on the river. Once we checked in we wandered the neighborhood and I actually saw a real Geisha with several men walking down the street. The area is a bit seedier than I had thought with strip clubs and girls who are obviously escorts. The Memoris of a Geisha view I had in my mind was somewhat there but this other side of it kind of dampered it a bit. Thankfully we found a more traditional looking area and the Kyoto I imagined came right back. It was dinner time so we ended up in a small place where we had skewers. The guy wasn't real chatty in Japanese or English but the food was good, plus they had Sapporo, which hasn't been easy to find surprisingly!

After dinner we went back to the hostel to sleep on our box spring bed... the very very uncomfortable bed. It was a box spring with a sheet on it. It sucked! In my next post you will hear how we bailed on staying there and went back to our Toyoko-Inn (which is where I am typing this from right now at 5:10pm on Saturday, Day 11.). :)

P.S. I had read that when in Japan most attractions and stations have stamps you can get and to bring a book as it's an easy souveneir of your trip. I had kind of forgotten this until one day I noticed one. Now Jeff and I seem to see them everywhere and have finally started getting stamps wherever we go. It's fun to look for them now. I highly suggest doing that if you ever come over here!!

Japanese Pizza

After leaving the the Peace Park, we headed into dowwntown and began our hunt for Okonomiyaki (aka - Japanese pizza). NOTE: Japanese pizza and neapolitan pizza have very little in common. First of all, it is cooked on griddle, not in an oven. It starts out as a fine layer of dough (paper-thin) and then a multitude of ingredients is added. There is no tomoto sauce in case you are wondering. I believe mine was the "traditional" which included, bean sprouts, cabbage, fish flakes, pork, egg, spices and a sauce somewhat like tonkatsu sauce. Once this is piled high, it is pliiped over and pressed into a pancake. Once it is done, it is cut up into small pieces, and served - you eat it directly off the griddle!!! Of course you have to wash it down with a cold draft beer. Man was this pizza good. Super satisfying and fulfilling...wait, that sounds like I just ate a neapolitan pizza! New menu item at Tutta Bella?!? Oshi!!!