Kyoto In Pictures

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!

We're trying something a little different this time. Since our picture posts seem to be everyone's favourite, and in conjunction with the fact that we are having just way too much fun in Kyoto to spend our evenings writing, we have decided to post yet another picture post for you lovely people!

Enjoy!

Mike is searching diligently where to find Kyoto's giant orange Torii in his Lonely Planet Guide book. Where could it possibly be?!?

The impenetrable Nishi Honhan-ji Temple. Seriously, don't even try to break into this place.

Buddhist shrine within the Nishi Honhan-ji. All this gold is the reason for the impenetrable walls

This crane outside the walls of the Nishi Honhan-ji is actually a guard in disguise. See? They take security VERY seriously.

Found in front of a shrine at the Chion-in Temple: The ultra-rare Praying Praying Mantis!

Carefully cultivated sand sculptures inside the Ginkaku-ji Temple. Sadly, minutes after this picture was taken, a bully smashed through this work of art, ruined the sculpture and kicked sand in the eyes of the monks who built it.

Mike and Maja peacefully enjoying the bamboo grove prior to running for their lives from a giant black smoke monster.

"Oh Tintin, you old cad, you!"

Mike absolutely BUTCHERING "Here Comes The Sun" by The Beatles. And we do mean BUTCHERING! Seriously, be glad you weren't there...

A small but colourful shrine at Chion-in Temple. This is where all the Buddhist clowns go to pray.

  

Mike admiring the aqueduct at Nanzen-ji Temple. Eat it, Romans.

Posing underneath the aqueduct. Aren't we adorable?

Mike looking unnecessarily stressed-out at the Ginkaku-ji zen garden. Seriously man, relax!

 

What Maja didn't tell Mike is that she realized the meaning of life during her walk down Kyoto's Path of Philosophy. So selfish!

Mike putting his calligraphy skills to the test at the Okochi Sanso house. Little did they know, Mike practices writing kanji during his spare time back home so this was an absolute breeze. 

The jaw dropping beauty of the Kinkaku-ji Temple. No jokes here, this place was just too gorgeous.

 And you knew this was coming. The moment you've all been waiting for : 

MONKEY PICTURES!

A baby macaque just monkeying around on a warning sign at the Arashiyama Monkey Park.
("Monkeying around" hehehe)

Mike feeding the monkeys from the specially designed feeding cage. Don't worry, it was the humans who were caged, not the monkeys.

This guy was pretty intense. I think he was going through banana withdrawal.

These baby macaques are the best of friends. You can tell because they are hugging it out. 

Even monkeys like to take in the spectacular view of Kyoto from the top of the Arashiyama Park (can you blame them?)

Maja really embraced the Buddhist philosophy of meditation. After a only a few minutes of quiet contemplation, she didn't nag Mike for the rest of the day!

Namaste,

M&M

P.S. Still no fish for Mike yet!

P.P.S. No monkey poo on Mike this time either! HOORAY!

Day 4 & 5: Speeding away from Tokyo Madness to Tranquil Takayama

Good morning, good day and good evening world!

The magnificent Torii that greets you as you enter Meiji-jingu

If you thought Tokyo couldn't get any wetter, well you thought wrong! Just on our short walk to breakfast, it started raining and it didn't stop. We hustled to a French boulangerie, Viron, in Shibuya which was recommended by Lonely Planet. We thought 340 Yen ($3.60 CAN) for a tall coffee at Starbucks was pricey, but a simple coffee at Viron was 660 Yen ($7.00 CAN)!

Yikes! But this didn't stop us from getting a croque monsieur, abricot croissant and a chocolate eclair! Everything was magnifique and the restaurant honestly made you feel like you were in Paris, the menu was even in français, much to our benefit. Although this was probably the most expensive breakfast we've eaten, it was worth every Yen.

This picture is ex-STREAM!!

Our next stop was Gwen Stefani's favorite neighbourhood, Harajuku. This area is the shopping capital of Tokyo with hundreds and hundreds of shops lining the streets. (Un)fortunately, we didn't see any of these shops, instead we walked to the Meiji-jingu shrine, the largest Shinto shrine in Tokyo. Before arriving, you pass a number of Torii (gates). These are the famous double T type gates that you picture when you think of Japan. They are extremely eye-catching. At this point, there was a torrential downpour and despite being equipped with raincoats and umbrellas, we got completely soaked. Sadly, it was hard to appreciate the beauty of the shrine with these weather conditions. The Torii were definitely the most impressive part of this sight. 

Be honest, does it really surprise you that much
that Japan has a Hello Kitty store?

The most frustrating thing about our experience in Tokyo was getting lost and endlessly searching (and mostly never finding) many of the sights/shops/restaurants/bars. As we exited the Meiji-jingu shrine from a different gate, we looked for the nearest recommended restaurant. Little did we know that we actually walked more than 2 subway stops away from the shrine, all in heavy rain. We finally reached Takashimaya Times Square, department store in Shinjuku where we warmed up with some tea and beef tongue. Very chewy but delicious! After exploring the mall, we left empty handed but with full stomachs.

Since we explored the male geek district the day before, it was only time to explore the female geek district in Ikebukuro. No matter what neighbourhood we were in and no matter what time of day it was, it seemed like there were constantly people out and about eating, shopping or playing arcade games, and Ikebukuro was no exception. We browsed a 7-floor anime store that lost Maja's interest after the 2nd floor. Oh and we felt no trip to Japan would be complete without a stop-over at the Hello Kitty store which was as adorable (and pink) as you would expect.

You can tell that these Anime characters are designed for women because all the men look like little girls

Exhausted as we were, some more than others, we ventured off to the Golden Gai area of Shinjuku. Golden Gai is made up of over 300 bars, each one smaller than the next, some are even smaller than a typical walk-in closest. The options were overwhelming and you could probably spend your entire trip going from bar to bar.

Maja barely fits in this stairwell leading to this shoebox sized bar in Golden Gai

In normal Tokyo fashion, we quickly and efficient left the chaos to a city buried in the Japanese Alps via bullet train. The shinkansen (bullet train) goes somewhere between 240 km/h to 320 km/h. The train went so fast that we even missed spotting Mount Fuji. After a five hour trip, we finally made it to refreshing Takayama. We checked into our Japanese style inn, Asunaro Ryokan, which was out of this world. The staff greeted us with slippers and showed 

us to our room, which was more like our own little Japanese-style condo. The tatami rooms featured a living area, futon beds, a day room for relaxing, and a private bathroom that featured a high-tech toilet with it's own sink. Guests are also given their own yukata, a casual summer kimono. Surprised by her size, the hotel manager had to replace Maja's yukata with what he called "a Japanese-sized" one. This ryokan also had some great little knick-knacks decorating the halls that had Maja giggling with joy.

Maja's ability to blend in with the local Japanese is uncanny.

Maja's favourite Japanese Grandpa

Our ryokan also offered free bikes for their guests, so we ventured off through the streets of Takayama via bike. It didn't take too long before we parked them though, opting instead to walk through the old centre of town, Sanmachi-suji. This part of the town is made up of three streets filled with traditional shops, restaurants, museums, and sake breweries. The traditional shops had wide ranging souvenirs from little figurines to yukatas to samurai wooden swords. We ended the evening with a decadent dinner at Kyoya, a charming little restaurant where we sat cross legged by charcoal grill. Mike chose the hida beef that you cooked yourself on the charcoal grill while Maja indulged in an enormous meal of sashimi, deep-fried prawns, miso soup, buckwheat noddles, rice and apricot Japanese liqueur, umeshu. The meal was succulent and the staff was extremely friendly, talkative and offered gifts of appreciation. We returned the favour with Canadian flag pins and maple candy. They were so humbled and were eager to pose for a picture with Maja. Now we are going to enjoy the peace and quiet in our ryokan with a relaxing soak in the on-site onsen (Japanese hot springs). 

The friendly and generous staff of Kyoya, Maja's new best friends.

Namaste,
M&M

Five Tips for Travelling Newbies

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!

So we've bought our tickets for our next big excursion: JAPAN! 
In preparation for our trip to the land of the rising sun, we've been reasearching travelling in Japan online. We came across this excellent post offerring up 10 tips for those experiencing Japan for the first time: 

Japan: readers' tips, recommendations and travel advice

Needless to say this post gave us some excellent ideas for our upcoming trip and we've already incorporated some of these tips into our travel plans.

This article also inspired us to post our own top five travel tips that we'd like to share with all you folks out there who may be planning you're very first big trip. Be it backpacking around Europe, driving across North America, or island hopping in the South Pacific, here are some pointers that we wish we had known prior to embarking on our own adventures:

1) Plan ahead 

You can never be too prepared

Travel books are your friend. Sure, they are usually as thick as a bible, with tiny font that can be extremely intimidating, but doing a bit of research ahead of time will not only save you a ton of headaches when you actually arrive, but it can be loads of fun too! By putting together a preliminary list of stops and sights ahead of time, looking at pictures of things to see, learning about the food you'll be tasting, and reading about the experiences that will be offered, your excitement and anticipation will only grow! Our favourite travel books are the Lonely Planet series and Eyewitness Travel's Top Ten series. Lonely Planet's books are perfect for pre-trip planning. They are filled to the brim with details and suggestions, but once you arrive in your destination, they can be a little too bulky to carry around with you during the day. Top Ten's are great for any major city you plan on visiting for longer than 4 days. Their offerings are slightly more limited but if you want to experience the absolute best that major cities have to offer, you can't go wrong! Plus, they are also small enough to carry in your pocket!

2) Don't be a slave to your itinerary

Planning ahead is great (and, as mentioned above, pretty essential) but one of the biggest mistakes you can make during your travels is forcing yourself to leave a city only because your schedule dictates. Sometimes this is unavoidable, if you have a flight pre-booked or a reservation at a hotel, but trust us, if you've fallen in love with a city only to be forced to leave earlier than you'd like, you'll only resent it in your next destination. 

Gorgeous Cinque Terre, Italy. Photo courtesy of www.kevinandamanda.com

As you meet people on your journey, you'll most certainly get more travel advice from them, suggestions to new places you hadn't originally considered. Some of the best discoveries have come about from these sorts of conversations! Mike discovered one of the most beautiful places in Italy thanks to a casual conversation at a hostel. If you are ever near Pisa, be sure to check out Cinque Terre, you definitely won't regret it!

3) Hop on, Hop off buses

Plus you get to enjoy the open air! Who doesn't love
Double Deckers?

This may come as a surprise to some. If you live in a major city anywhere in the world, you must be familiar with these red eyesores; double-decker buses that block up your downtown city streets. Well you may find them annoying back home, but when you're out of your element, these sightseeing Hop-On, Hop-Off buses are the perfect stepping stone to help ease you into your journey! If you are staying in one city for any real length of time, buying a ticket for these bus tours can really help orient yourself in your new surroundings. We recommend a three-day pass as it instantly helps you get to know the city, what sights you'll want to visit, their historical significance, and they also act as a nice means of transportation for a few days, getting you where you almost certainly want to go.
Check them out here: Hop-On, Hop-Off Tours

4) Buy an app

Smart phones are a fantastic invention, but unless you have a ton of extra cash lying around, roaming cell and data fees can murder your monthly bill. We both own iPhones, which come equipped with google maps, which is great when you get lost back home. But what happens if you thousands of miles away from your cell phone carrier? The answer is simple! The makers of the aforementioned Lonely Planet book series also offer some extremely handy travel apps for iPhone, Android, and Nokia! In our opinion, these apps are ESSENTIAL for modern travel! They come with much of the same content found in their travel guides, such as sights to see, restaurants to check out, and stores to shop. But far and away the absolutely BEST feature about these apps would have to be the maps. Each app comes preloaded with a city map which uses your smart phone's built in GPS to place you on the map, telling you exactly where you are! You'll never get lost again! It also tells you what's around you in terms of hotels, sights, shops and restaurants, it's fantastic! The best part? Since the map is pre-loaded, and GPS is free, it won't cost you a penny! Well, that's not entirely true, the apps typically run you about $3.99 CND, but they are completely worth it.

Be sure to check out Lonely Planet's selection at their website. 

5) Pack light!

Finally, you should not only avoid over packing, but in our experience it's best to under pack! You'll need the space for all the amazing souvenirs you'll be bringing back for yourself, your family, and your friends! Another thing to keep in mind is that more often than not you'll find cheaper or more exotic clothes than what you are used to back home, so you'll certainly be picking something up for yourself. It's better to have to space to buy stuff in your destination and have room for it, than having to make that difficult choice as to what piece of clothing needs to be left behind. This was a hard lesson for us to learn and we've been known to buy an extra suitcase or two on our travels in order to accommodate all the cool souvenirs we wanted to bring home.

One last tip: Travel pillows may look ridiculous,
but trust us, your neck will thank you!

Hope you liked our list and that this advice will prove useful in your own travels. If you have some other useful tips for your fellow traveller, please feel free to add them in the comments! Your input is always appreciated!

Namaste,
M&M