Asia

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year to my lovely readers.

2017 was a wonderful year of travel for me – the busiest yet, travelling to three continents and exploring places new and old. Looking forward to what 2018 has to bring!

Berlin in February

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Making it to Japan for sakura (cherry-blossom) season

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Exploring the beauty of Kyoto!

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Camping in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Survived the downpour of the first day…

Exploring Prague in July – the wettest/coldest spell you could have asked for!

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All the food in Chile.

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Celebrating my 23rd birthday in the Atacama Desert.

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Experiencing the wilderness in the Bolivian Salt Flats and its surroundings.

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Visiting Machu Picchu for the second time!

Soaking up the last of the sun in Spain in Autumn.

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Thanks 2017, let’s make 2018 even better!

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Japan Series: Japanese food you HAVE to eat

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Welcome back to the Japan Series. This is the final installment of my travels in Japan. It’s saddening that this chapter in my travels is coming to a close but I hope you have enjoyed the weekly blogs.

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Not only am I a picky eater, but I also don’t eat pork or seafood for religious reasons. Visiting Japan with these dietary requirements was a worry not only for me, but for my friend who knew just how much pork and seafood is used in Japanese cuisine. And so commenced the challenge to find Japanese food that I could actually eat. Hmm.

However, after 9 days in Japan, the food was hands down one of the absolute best parts of my trip and so varied as well. I was spoiled for choice for what I could have.

Today I am going to share some of the best meals I ate on my Japanese journey to gastronomic enlightenment.

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Tokyo

A great place to get food near Shinjuku is Tori ki zoku, a chicken kebab place which had delicious chicken with a range of flavours. What was great is everything is ordered on a tablet at your table, so you can order as much or as little as you want at a time, and it is in English as well.

Okonomeyaki

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We went to a place near Harajuku, which was very friendly and open to travellers with menus and instructions in English. Basically, to make onkonomeyaki, you cook your own food and choose the ingredients. We chose chicken teriyaki for one and beef, onion and picked ginger for the second one. There was so much food, and it is great because you are the one in charge, so you know exactly what is going into your meal.

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Onigiri

These rice snacks wrapped in seaweed usually have something in the center – it can be salmon, pork, tuna etc. but I really liked the ones with fried chicken! Absolutely delicious for a quick snack, and I just wish we had them in convenience stores back at home. Cheap, quick, easy and satisfying.

Sushi

We went to a sushi restaurant in Tokyo and I was surprised at how cheap sushi is in Japan (70p/plate). For a salmon nigiri, you are looking at roughly £3 in the UK! Sushi is such an expensive meal at home so I was shocked at how affordable the real deal is. As I don’t eat seafood, not much sushi is available to me except the salmon (I despise tuna as well), but there was so much choice with duck and beef as well which I have never seen in the UK before. I loved the automated ordering service, like what I have seen in other restaurants in Japan, it is just so efficient and easy to keep track of what you have ordered.

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Kyoto: Ayam-ya – the best chicken ramen you will ever have

So I love chicken ramen, a dish I often have in the UK. However, in Japan, the real deal is usually made with pork, not chicken. It seemed as though eating an authentic chicken ramen would be impossible in Japan; however, TripAdvisor came to the rescue as there was one place near the station – a Halal restaurant – which served delicious chicken ramen. I did get a food coma but it was the best ramen ever and it’s great that there is a place in Kyoto for those of us who want our ramen fix chicken-style!

Sukiyaki

Before our night bus back to Tokyo, we wanted something substantial for dinner, and we found it. This was by far the BEST meal I had in Japan. Find it upstairs in the Isetan department store in Kyoto.

Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish which I had never heard of before, but after this experience I will never forget. It consists of thinly sliced beef, which is slowly cooked at the table in a nabemono pot (yes another meal where you need to cook it yourself!), alongside vegetables and other ingredients, with soy sauce, sugar and mirin.

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Harrie loving the sukiyaki life

The sukiyaki consisted of all-you-can-eat beef, vegetables AND bottomless soft drinks AND dessert. We had 90 minutes for the table and of course, we made the most of the time. We got through two plates of beef and so many vegetables: cabbage, Japanese mushrooms, leek, onion, tofu, salad greens, etc. so it was healthy to a certain extent…It was magical but I definitely ate too much and was in a food coma on the coach back to Tokyo. Do I regret it? No, not really.

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On the whole, experiencing Japan’s amazing food culture was so accessible to me, there was so much choice and I was never left hungry or without options. I loved the restaurants where we could cook ourselves because it became an experience and I knew exactly what was on my plate. I’m sure Japan has so much more food for me to discover and I can’t wait to get back to sink my teeth into more.

What’s your favourite Japanese dish? Let me know in the comments,

Robyn

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Japan Series: Rainy Kyoto

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Welcome back to the Japan Series! After a few days in Tokyo and a day trip to Kamakura, it was time for a weekend trip to Kyoto…

During our trip to Kyoto we rented an Airbnb, staying in a traditional Japanese house near Toji Station. This was a great location and amazing to stay in a beautiful Japanese home.

We arrived Friday night after a long coach journey, and had only 2 full days to make the most of this city, which I must admit, is not long enough to see everything. Pressure!

In Kyoto, there is a lot of tourism. So much so, that it can get to the point were there are just too many tourists at sites. Still, we found that by being smart with our itinerary, there are ways to avoid a lot of the stress of the crowded temples and shrines. It was also coming to the end of sakura season, so the main bulk of tourists had fizzled out. Nevertheless, for some places, the overcrowding is just inevitable and you have to suck it up and go with the flow (of the crowd).

The weather forecast was not looking promising for Saturday morning, so we changed our plans up a bit to take into account the rainy weather.

Our first stop was to the nearby Toji Temple. Now, this is not one of the ‘top sites’ as such, but with it being a short walk away it would have been a shame not to see it. In all honesty though, this was one of my favourite places that I visited in Kyoto. Maybe because it was quite empty, maybe because it was just so beautiful, I don’t know, but I loved it! The 5-storey pagoda is really something, and has been even earthquake-proof for a few centuries! It was really interesting reading about how they managed that.

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Toji

 

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Toji

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Toji

The rain still beating down, we made our way to Tofukuji Temple. We caught the bus right outside Toji which took us straight there – handy! It was a short walk to the Temple. This one is interesting as it has two very different gardens which you have to pay to enter. We decided we may as well do both while we were there. These gardens are actually made to be appreciated in rainy weather, and there are plenty of walkways to keep dry if necessary.

The first garden, you can walk around and explore away from the sheltered areas and really get into nature. It was so tranquil and the colours around were mesmerising.

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The second was a ‘zen garden’ which was also beautiful in its own way but with a lot more structure and perfectionism to it.

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It wasn’t long after until the sun reappeared and it became sunny and humid again, just in time for our next stop, Fushimi-Inari Shrine, which I will talk about in next week’s post…

Robyn

Japan Series: coach or bullet train?

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9 hours of air travel from Helsinki to Tokyo felt like forever, but 9 hours from Tokyo to Kyoto went by so quickly!

Most people get the shinkansen (bullet train) or choose to fly to Kyoto in just a few hours to save some time. We decided to take a coach, hence the nine hour trip. Coach travel in Japan is not so bad though from this experience, and I would recommend it for those wanting to save some pennies on transport.

For our trip which left from Shinjuku Station, our coach seats reclined quite far back and had a hood around them to give us some extra privacy and shade from the light when desired. This was lovely for when I wanted to nap, and I did nap (a miracle as I find napping on any form of transport so difficult)! If only economy plane seats were this good! The coach was not very full and on both trips we had no one behind us either.

We had breaks every so often at good service stations (I have never seen such a pristine and inviting service station bathroom), and there were plenty of options for snacking and hot meals so there was no need to bring provisions if you didn’t want to.

This was also the day I ate my first onigiri (rice snack with filling in a triangle shape). This one had fried chicken as the filling and it was delicious. There will be a separate post on food as it was one of the best aspects of the entire trip.

All announcements on the coach were made in Japanese, English, Mandarin and Korean and the bus driver left a sign on the front of the bus to let us know when to be back during service station breaks.

Overall it was quite a pleasant experience, and I felt well rested, ready for two full-on days of sight-seeing in Kyoto!

On the return journey which left at a grueling 12:40am (night bus), be warned that there is hardly anywhere open 24 hours near Kyoto station! The nearby Starbucks seems to be where everyone lingers until closing time at 11pm. The station is open for somewhere to sit but nothing more.

When we rocked up to a service station at 6am, still half asleep, we turned round to find Mt. Fuji right in front of us! I didn’t get to do the day trip but at least I got to see her from a service station on a clear morning…

The low-down:

Price: a return ticket cost £68. You will have to book these when in Japan.

Worth it? Yes, if you are wanting to save some money but not if you want to maximise your time in Kyoto.

Coin-lockers: Kyoto station has plenty of coin lockers starting from 300 yen to hire for the entire day. If you have a late bus or train back, these are great to keep your luggage safe and make the most of your day.

 

 

Day-trip from Tokyo: Kamakura

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Welcome to the fourth edition of the Japan Series blog posts. If you are starting here, you may like to read Welcome to the Japan Series.

After two whole days in Tokyo, enough to shake off the jet lag, we took the train out to Kamakura for a day trip. There are quite a few day trip options from Tokyo which I will look forward to doing on my next trip (I hope), but for this day, we chose Kamakura.

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An hour or so south of Tokyo on the train, Kamakura is a small city but a popular destination for travellers looking for temples, shrines and monuments. The most famous landmark is The Great Buddha (鎌倉大仏, Daibutsu), the second largest buddha statue in Japan, and you can even go inside it and marvel at the impressive architecture and design!

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It was so good, I ate it too quickly and gave myself indigestion!

During our day trip, we caught the electric train to Hase, the nearest stop for the Great Buddha, and then grabbed some delicious veggie food nearby. There seems to be a lot of that going on! From there, it was a short walk to the impressive Hasedera Temple, which also has stunning views over the city and coastline.

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We caught the train back to Kamakura station to visit Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, the most important shrine in the city. This is a large shrine which has several ponds, which during sakura season were stunning. There, we were able to buy some fish food to feed the many fish, but it seemed like the pigeons were quite determined to get a mouthful!

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Attack of the pigeons!

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There are a number of other sites of interest in Kamakura, but it was lovely to get out of the big city for a day and experience somewhere quite different.

We caught the train back, rather exhausted after a long day exploring, ready to pack our bags and have an early night before our 9-hour coach journey to Kyoto the following morning!

Where would you go as a day trip from Tokyo?

Let me know in the comments!

Robyn

Japan Series: 9 little things I love about Japan

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There were so many ‘wow’ moments in Japan. It wasn’t even anything especially big, it was all in the detail. Japan is definitely all about the detail. So without further ado…

9 little things I love about Japan:

1. The vending machines

They are everywhere. Not just in the entrance way of a shop, they really are everywhere. There were three on the road we were staying on, just on the pavement. Heck, they were on the top of the Inari mountain in Kyoto just when I needed it (Fushimi-inari). The local metro had about 4 on the platform. Not just cold drinks, no, there were warm drinks too. Hot coffee? Cold coffee? Hot lemon drink (my fav), hot chocolate or grape juice? No need to rush to make a hot drink in the morning when the vending machines have got your back. It is impossible to ever feel dehydrated in this country and I love it. I want my hot lemon drink back!

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My beloved hot lemon drink, I will drink you again

2. The toilets

The first time I saw a Western toilet in a café with all the exciting buttons on it, I had to tear myself away because it would look a bit weird if I spend ages in the toilet, right?

-Where is your friend?

-Oh yeah, about that, she hasn’t seen a fancy Japanese toilet before – she may be a while.

There are buttons to make flushing noises, heated seats, deodorising sprays. It was really weird and wonderful at the same time. I remember being so intrigued when my Japanese housemate in France tried to explain them to us one time in French, after all that time I was not left disappointed. You would find these in restaurants, service stations, department stores… I feel like we are really missing a trick back in Europe. We need to implement these asap!

3. The service

Okay this is a good thing and a bad thing at times. Japanese service is so attentive. Glasses of water are brought to your table and topped up without you even having to lift a finger. On the other hand, they give you a bag for everything you buy in shops, with the little tape round the top – is that really necessary? Even for the littlest thing. Maybe the fact that we are charged 5p for every bag we need in the UK now, it is going from one extreme to the other. All those plastic bags I accumulated in Japan? Yes, yes I did bring them back in my luggage and now I have lots  of plastic bags to use at home. Is that weird?

4. Warm hand towels at the start of every meal

They do this in other cultures, I know, but having a refreshing warm or cold towel before your meal is so nice. Again, we need to implement this and make this a norm in the UK!

5. Everyone carries hand towels in their bags

Hand driers and paper towels aren’t really a ‘thing’ in Japan, so most people carry a hand towel in their bag for this reason. Not only do you feel super organised when you whip your hand towel out in one of these situations and the person next to you doesn’t have one, it makes a lot of sense – maybe even better for the environment (?). Hand towels are a very popular souvenir and I bought such a soft, cute pastel-coloured one with my initial on it to use at home. I will use it (promise).

6. The roof handles on metro trains are just the right height for me to reach. Normally, they are way too high up as I am so small, but Japanese people are on average smaller, so they compensate this on their trains. Yay.

7. On a similar note, no need to find the Petite section in a shop, oh no. Why do that when you can just select a normal pair of trousers and they fit you perfectly, no problem! I wish I could have done more shopping for trousers/clothes in Japan as my height is just the right size for their clothing! I feel bad for tall people though, as like…what do they do..? Oh yeah, struggle like us small people back home. No sympathy.

8. When it is cold, they have under-seat heaters on metro trains. There is nothing more perfect than that.

9. Hanami 花見. I was lucky enough to see Japan during spring-time, near to the end of the cherry blossom season. The cherry blossoms were not in full bloom anymore, but I was lucky enough to see some beautiful sakura (cherry blossom) all the same. I love how there is a Japanese word, hanami (花見) which literally means ‘flower viewing.’ I loved the cherry blossom and it is so cool how there is a universal love and interest in Japan in just appreciating the beauty of nature.

What do you love especially about Japan? Let me know in the comments below!

Robyn