Day 28 & 29 –Time to go home. 25-26/4/2013

No rush this morning, as our flight out of Japan wasn’t until 1:50pm. We managed to accidently catch a train that took us all the way to Kansai Airport, rather than changing trains partway through the trip. The Japan section of the trip home was easy, as expected, but with a twist: The twist came when we were told in Osaka that we couldn’t check our luggage through to Sydney – we would have to collect it in Shanghai and re-check in for the Shanghai to Sydney part of the trip. This meant going through Chinese immigration, customs, baggage collection and quarantine, then go down to Departures and check in (with only 2 staff checking hundreds of people in), emigration and security check, rather than just stay in a transit lounge. This all took about 2 hours. Lucky our connecting flight wasn’t too soon.

As soon as we were back in China we knew we were back in China. The plane stopped on the tarmac and we were transferred to the terminal by a bus with a crazy Chinese driver.

After changing our leftover Yen to Chinese Yuan, we had a well-deserved but very expensive drink and a less expensive dinner. The plane was then delayed for an hour before finally departing Shanghai.

Arriving in Sydney around 8:30am we were met by Les and quickly got away from the airport. As we drove south a few things stood out: 1. The sky was so blue. As Lauren said, “The sky is freakishly blue”. 2. We have so much open space. In both China and Japan there is no flat ground that is in its natural state. Houses or small farm plots take up the all the space. 

Now that we’re home I’ll compose one last post in a day or two, once the dust settles – a sort of retrospective and maybe some hints and tips that I can refer back to when planning future trips. And if it turns out to be useful to other people then that’s just a bonus. Overall we’ve seen a lot, learned a lot and continued to develop a love of travel in the kids. I’m sure that if more people, especially kids, could experience what we have just experienced the world would be a better place. A glimpse of China teaches you to appreciate what you have. Japan shows what respect and politeness can achieve. But it’s good to be home.

Day 27 –Nara to Universal City. 24/4/2013

Today was the surprise for the kids. Our last day in Japan at Universal Studios Osaka. We arrived from Nara at about 9.30, dropped the bags at the hotel and headed for Universal Studios.

IMG_5893

During the day we managed to do every ride and every show on offer, with light rain all day keeping the crowds down. The Waterworld show was stopped half way through due to …. umm, something. It was pouring at the time so maybe something blew up?

IMG_5932

IMG_5910 IMG_5923 IMG_5935 IMG_5938

Favourites were the Spiderman ride and the Space rollercoaster. Although there were fewer rides, the quality of the rides was probably better than Disneyland. The quality of every ride and every show was outstanding. Thirty something years on and there is still a Jaws ride. Corny, but still good fun.

IMG_5913

We finally left after the light parade and after closing time and then had a great dinner at Salzeriya, the same chain as lunch in Nara. Good food at great prices. 4 entrees, 4 pizzas, 4 desserts, 2 carafes of wine and unlimited drinks for the kids for $52.

IMG_6013 IMG_5973

 Finally back to the room at Hotel Universal Port at about 10pm. Great room in a great location, overlooking the bay. Much better and cheaper than the hotel in Shin-Osaka and just as convenient to Osaka’s sights.

Day 26 – Osaka to Nara. 23/4/2013

The plan was to catch the JR train to Nara to meet Michiko’s auntie and to check out Nara’s highlights. The plan was complicated when we tried to buy tickets and found out that the Nara line was closed due to an accident. Luckily there is another train line that runs to Nara, a private line. With the new plan we headed off.

Nara is a great little city. We’re staying in a Japanese style room in a small guesthouse right in the centre of Nara.

After meeting Michiko, her aunt and friends of her mother, Mr and Mrs Yamanaka, we went for lunch. The food prices in Nara are so cheap. Lunch was about 500yen for a pasta and unlimited soft drink.

IMG_5817

After lunch we headed off alone to Todai-ji, a huge wooden temple – the largest wooden building in the world, dating from the 9th century  and measuring 50m high – housing a huge 15m bronze Buddha. In the park surrounding Todai-ji are hundreds of deer, roaming freely.

IMG_5825 IMG_5830 IMG_5841 IMG_5852 IMG_5858

The last stop was Kasuga Shrine, with thousands of stone lanterns in the area around the shrine.

IMG_5871 IMG_5872 IMG_5881 IMG_5885

While the boys headed back to the guest house the girls did some last minute souvenir shopping before we headed out for a bargain curry dinner (4200yen including drinks) at Coco Curry.

Day 25 –Osaka. 22/4/2013

Big day. At the start of the day we had only a vague plan of what we would do. The plan was to see some of Osaka.

We started the day buying an 800yen($8)(300yen for the kids) subway day pass. We headed off for the Osaka Aquarium, one of the largest aquariums in the world. Very Impressive. Some of the highlights were the giant, deep water crabs, a jellyfish section, the sea otters and a small (about 5m) whale shark.

IMG_5673 IMG_5639 IMG_5599

Next to the Aquarium was the world’s largest ferris wheel (or so they said on the sign – I just googled it. Was the largest in 1997, but has since been outdone), so we had to  try it out.  At only 700yen it was a bargain compared to others such as the London Eye.

IMG_5584

 

 

IMG_5692Next we headed into the unknown to the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living. This turned out to be an amazing surprise. On the 9th floor of a modern city city building was a full size replica of an 1830’s Edo period Osaka Village. The girls dressed up in there kimino and we spent an hour or so wandering through the village. At one point it turned to night – the street lights came on and it went dark. There were fireworks, moon and even a storm. Just amazing. It was hard to believe we were inside a modern building.

IMG_5747 IMG_5722 IMG_5766

Next stop on the subway adventure was Osaka-jo, Osaka Castle. This is another castle that had been destroyed many times in the past by fire and rebuilt, so we weren’t really expecting too much. We were wrong. Best loking castle we’ve seen. 2 moats, huge stone walls everywhere and the castle itself was at least 7 stories.

IMG_5786

Last stop for the day was a walk between Shinsaibashi and Namba, a very modern shopping, eating and nightlife area. Dinner was at a fantastic buffet style restaurant. Great day.

Day 24 –Osaka. 21/4/2013

Today was our tour of the Ikeda area, an outer suburb of Osaka, with an ex-boss of Michiko – Mr and Mrs Nishimura. They met us at the station and showed us their home town. First stop was Ando’s “Ramon Cup Noodle” Museum. Ando was the inventor of instant noodles. The museum was dedicated to telling the story of the invention of 2 minute noodles. I’ll never look at a cup of instant noodles the same again. It was actually really interesting.

IMG_5548

We then strolled through the local shopping area before stopping in at a Rakugo (Osaka comedy) museum. Next was the Satsukiyama Zoo, a small zoo specialising in Australian animals. Ikeda is a sister city with Launceston, Tasmania!

The highlight of the day was lunch at an Okonomiyaki Tepinyaki restaurant. This was a feast of salad, fried tofu, pork, seafood, soup, rice, noodles and just when we thought we couldn’t eat anything more they brought out the main event – a pancake with seafood, pork, special sauce, barbequed at our table barbeque. Delicious. But so much food. Many, many thanks to Mr Nishimura for a great day.

IMG_5568 IMG_5579

After we left Mr Nishimura we headed back to Osaka Umeda and checked out a huge electrical store and an ever bigger department store. I’m currently sitting in a restaurant/bar, sipping sangria on the 13th floor of the store. Very nice.

 

Day 23 –Koyasan to Osaka. 20/4/2013

Up early today for our 6:30am Buddhist prayer service with the monks. Difficult to work out what was going on, and damn near impossible to kneel for half an hour, but a really interesting experience. After our dose of religious experience we headed back to the room to pack our bags, then head to breakfast, a mixture of mostly unidentifiable objects that the monks call food. I’d been doing well with the Japanese food so far, but I couldn’t manage this meal. After a poor attempt at eating we were back in the room eating the bananas and snacks we had bought from the mini-mart yesterday.

Next we were off to explore the other end of the village. A large area of temples and shrines was close by, with some amazing buildings dating from the 9th century, with additions made right through until the 20th century. Being much colder than down at sea level, the cherry blossoms were still out at Koyasan.

IMG_5501 IMG_5503 IMG_5514 IMG_5523

We took the train back to Osaka, and met Michiko and her uncle late afternoon for a short river cruise, before checking in to our hotel at Shin-Osaka – the worst hotel yet. Tiny, smelly rooms with windows that don’t open. At least we had a nice dinner and bottle of wine at a restaurant in the nearby station.

Day 22 –Kyoto to Koyasan. 19/4/2013

IMG_5410Koyasan is a mountain village featuring many Buddhist monasteries where you can stay. To get here we had a combination of 4 trains, a cable car and a bus. Lauren decided to have a fainting episode on the peak hour train from Kyoto to Osaka. It was so packed she could have fainted and wouldn’t have been able to fall. We managed to strip her thick jacket off her and clear enough of a space for her to be able to sit on her suitcase. Once in Osaka we decided to feed her, which immediately fixed the problem.

We chose to stay at Tentokuen, a monastery in the centre of town. We arrived before check in time, so went for a walk to find some lunch (we knew the vegetarian dinner being provided by the monlks may or may not be to our taste) and check out the town.

Lunch was a great curry, similar to others we’ve had in Japan – a beef indian style curry with a crumbed pork schnitzel type thing. Tastes better than it sounds. We then wandered down to the Okunion, a 2km path through an ancient cemetery. 200 000 graves and memorial pagodas line the path, along with towering pine trees – some of which are 1000 years old. Again, this is an experience that can’t be described. The peacefulness and sense of calm was quite overwhelming at times. Several times, as the trees creaked in the wind and water trickled in nearby streams, it felt like we were walking through a scene from the computer game Myst.

IMG_5424 IMG_5436 IMG_5429

The path ends at the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, one of Japans most significant religious figures, who introduced Shingon Buddhism to Japan in 805AD. He obviously had quite an influence on the locals. Walking back to the monastery we found a great little coffee shop – the type that would quite at home in Kathmandu or a remote mountain village anywhere in the world.

IMG_5445 IMG_5451 IMG_5446

Back at the monastery we were led to our home for the night. Wow. This was going to be good. After exploring the room we settled into an hour or two of downtime before dinner. As expected, the dinner was a mixed bag of mysteries, but the environment was something we’ll never forget.

IMG_5478 IMG_5470 IMG_5454

We were considering going out to see the town by night, but it’s freezing out there, so we settled down to some reading (“The Teaching of Buddha” in the room) or some iPad, iPod and TV (yes, TV in the room in the monastery) for the less enlightened.

Day 21 – Kyoto. 18/4/2013

Armed with a 500 yen ($5) bus pass, a bus route map and a map we headed out to explore some of Kyoto’s highlights.

First stop was Sanjusangen-do, a Buddhist temple with 1001 human size Buddhas, all lined up in neat rows in a huge hall. Very impressive.

IMG_5341

Next stop was the wooden temple Kiyomizudera, and the walk down from the temple through old streets, grabbing a quick geocache on the way past. We managed to stop a Maiko, apprentice Geisha, during this stroll.

IMG_5299 IMG_5298 IMG_5292

Back on the bus, through Kyoto central and continuing to the north of the town to Kinkakuji, The Golden Temple. Wow. This place is covered in gold leaf.

IMG_5314

Last stop on the bus tour was Nijo-jo, Nijo Castle. This castle was quite a different design to others that we’ve seen. One remarkable feature was its squeaky floors. The floors were deliberately made to squeak. This was to provide the Shogun with a warning that someone, maybe an enemy, was approaching.

IMG_5338

After a long day on the buses it was time for a short break before we started our Kyoto night tour, show and dinner in the Gion area, traditional home of the Geisha. The show was a mixed bag of traditional Japanese art forms including a tea ceremony, flower arranging, dancing, a puppet show and a comedy sketch.

IMG_5368 IMG_5367 IMG_5362 IMG_5349

Dinner was a traditional Japanese Zen style Tempura dinner. The highlight of the night was participating in a tea ceremony at the back of the restaurant/house. The tea room is separate from the house, surrounded by a garden. The door into the tea house is about 60cm high and just wide enough to fit through. The host explained the reasons for the tiny door. The low door made you bow as you entered, showing respect and making all who entered equal. In traditional Japanese society the class system was very strong, but the small door ensured everyone left their tools of trade outside, so making everybody equal within the tea house. The room was tiny, just enough room for the 4 of us, the tea mistress and the guide kneeling. The procedures were very precise, but the feeling was serine.  I’m sure we broke several hundred rules, but it was a great experience.

IMG_5396 IMG_5393

Day 20 –Daytrip to Iga-ueno from Kyoto. 17/4/2013

Iga-ueno is a Ninja town. Today we did a 10 train journey (4 to get there, 6 to get home) to Iga-ueno to see the Ninja house with its trapdoors, revolving walls, secret hiding places under the floor, in the roof and in the walls, removable floorboards to hide weapons, secret passages and a whole host of other great featurIMG_5118es.

 

We saw a Ninja show where they explained the difference between a samurai sword and a ninja sword, explained the job of a ninja (basically an undercover spy for the local warlord) and threw some ninja stars and scythes. Ninja didn’t actually wear black, they wore dark blue so as to blend in with the local farmers and monks. Many of the weapons were concealed, such as a sword concealed in a broom.

IMG_5161 IMG_5160 IMG_5159 IMG_5158 IMG_5155 IMG_5145

We wandered around Iga-ueno castle, then headed back toward Kyoto.

IMG_5166

On the way back we stopped off at Fushimi-Inari, with its thousands of Tori Gates. Yes, thousands. We expected a few hundred metres of them. The trail to the temple, lined with the Tori Gates goes for 4km, with Tori gates every half metre or so. Just incredible. More than any religious site I’ve ever seen, this shows the dedication of the people. It wasn’t an outrageous show of wealth like St Peters in Rome or The Grand Palace in Bangkok. This was about dedication to the cause. Just fantastic, and up there with the most awesome things I’ve ever seen.

IMG_5271 IMG_5225 IMG_5211 IMG_5187

Day 19 – Kanazawa to Kyoto. 16/4/2013

On the move again, making the most of our Japan Rail travel pass. We headed south to Kyoto. The hotel was a little trickier to find than previous ones, and when we found it discovered it had the smallest rooms yet. The entire room – 2 single beds, desk chair, fridge, chair, wardrobe and bathroom would be no bigger than the kid’s bedrooms at home.

After checking in late morning we jumped on a train and headed to Arashiyama, an area of Kyoto with lots of temples and a great bamboo grove walk.

IMG_5099IMG_5099 IMG_5090IMG_5090 IMG_5081IMG_5081 IMG_5078IMG_5078 IMG_5077IMG_5077 IMG_5071

Back to the hotel to do some washing and have a bit of a rest (but not for long, then a long walk to attempt to discover some of downtown Kyoto and find dinner. We’re not doing very well with the Japanese food. It’s expensive, not very filling, hard to identify what you might actually get and the other options are far cheaper and easier. We’ve discovered that major department stores have a restaurant floor, offering just about anything you could want. Tonight it was hamburgers, then back to the room early for a big day of ninja hunting tomorrow.