Jimandy's Australasian Invasion

hi all,

were trying to upload our photos onto tintaweb... heres the url...

http://s349.photobucket.com/albums/q382/Jimandystravels/days%2015-onwards/

hopefully it should work!

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Dads last day - i cant believe how quick his holiday has gone! I think he really enjoyed himseld, we did sao much - he'll be exhausted! Early morning as we took dad to the airport for his flight at 11Ma,. iot felt so strange saying goodbye to dad! James said it feels like were starting another holiday now as were at the airport again! From here we got the narita express to Yokohama, to have some chill out time! We found our hostel then went for a tour of Yokohama, Japans second biggest city. We found out that this is the place in Jpaan for curry, as all the sailors brought it back from India to the docks. We found an amazing 100 yen shop, such a bargain! Then we looked at Minato Murai 21, the big development area. We then went up the landmark tower, japans tallest - 293 metres. we went in the fast elevator that travels 750 metres per minute! The view was amazing, qwe could see the whole of the dock area, and apparently on a clear day you can see mt fuji! We realised howe exhausted we were so took the rest of the day off and cooked a yummy meal in the evening!

(Mandy)

Dads last full day, so we gave him a treat to remember - sightseeing tram in northwest kyoto. After a lovely walk through an amazing beautiful bamboo forest, we boarded the tram at Saga and we were taken through tunnels and over bridges, getting a view of the clear blue river. I was made to feel at home by 3 japanese ladies, i wish i knew what they were saying to me! At the end of the trip we had a lovely walk through some rice fields and then took a tour of kyoto's train station. It felt so futuristic, we headed up the escalators to the 7th floor and got on the skyway, which had a beautiful view of the city, all surrounded by hills. We went up even further to the 15th floor, starting to feel a bit queesy! Saw the Kyoto Tower and the Toji Temple - the tallest pagoda in kyoto. After spending too long searching for our luggage lockers, we boarded the shinkansen for Tokyo to get to Narita. Well lets just say this wasnt as easy as we had thought! We didnt get into Tokyo until 9pm, so we had 2 hours to check-in to our hotel before it closed! I read in the lonely planet that the narita express goes on until 10pm, but it had finished - eek! After a hard conversation with a ticket mabn as just guessed and boarded a train to narita, got to our hotel at 10 to 11! phew! hotel was very nice - in western beds for a change!

(Mandy)

Today we decided to use the city buses to visit some of the temples, after a very confusing start! Headed to north west kyoto on a bus to see the ninnaji temple, we aimed to get off first at kinkakuji, but we got lost! ninnaji temple was so... beautiful, set in pretty grounds we first saw the 5 story pagoda from the 1700's, so artistis, we really wanted to look inside. All the temples in the complex were so beautiful. As we were just about to excit we headed for another temple only to realise it lead onto a raised wooden walkway, which took you for a tour of a beautiful japanese garden and a view of the pagoda. it was so beautiful i could have sat here for hours. Also saw some art work designed by the founder of the temple, so pretty. We then went to Kinkakuji temple, also known as the golden pavillion. The temople was burnt down in the 1950's and a replica was built. It was really beautiful, overlooking a lovely lake, i would love to live in a place like this! James has been getting architectural inspiration! We then caught the bus to northeast kyoto to do the philosophers walk, which starts at Gikakuji temple and goes south along a nice canal. We then got the bus back to gion and tried to aviod the seedier bit we saw yesterday! Instead we found thr most beautiful temple, Chionin temple, which was lit red with lanterns, really nice in the dark. We then managed to find Gion's traditional area, wth traditional homes. Dad then treated us to the 8pm performance at Gion Corner. which was a real insight into traditional japanese culture, watching tea making, flower arranging and puppet shows. They also did a geisha dance, which was so strange, lots of short movements and swaying. We then found soem tasty grub, the men had japanese stew, but i tried the curiously named 'salmon bacon', i had images of salmon wrapped in bacon! it was actually tasty, grilled salmon. Got chatting to a lovely Japanese girl called Izumi, who said in Japan women are expected to stay at home after marriage to raise children, very different to Uk!

(Mandy)

Up early again to travel to our next destination - Nagoya for Sumo wrestling! The early mornign meant we got to see an amazing view of mt fuji, with all the top clear, so pretty! The clouds were just around the base of the mountain. Travelled by bus to Mishima through lots of towns and about 50 stops! Then we travelled to Nagoya on the Shinkansen line, it travelled at 130mph, gliding along and tilting for the bends, it almost felt like we were flying but with lots more leg room! Got to Nagoya and headded on the subway for sumo!Just turned up on time for the junior sumo wrestlers. We were welcomed by a very friendly Japanese man, who has 2 sons that are both sumos. He was really friendly, he sat with us for half an hour or so, explaining how sumo worked in pigeon english! Today was the 12th day at Nagoya, in each match the eastside player fights a wrestler from the westside, the first to leave the ring or fall over loses. The fights only last a short time but they were so good to watch, in one match one sumo pushed the other to the ground and he fell on top of a judge! we found james' sumo name on the west side - DEJIMA - and now my sumo name is HOMANDD hehe! the japanese guys treated us like their guests, offering us sweets, gum and salami! we even got a photo with his sumo son! the matches were really exciting at the end, when the champion played it was uproar! After the sumow e caught the fast shinkansen to kyoto for our guest house, exhausted!

(Mandy)