#Japan16 Embracing Tokyo

Cover photo: One of the first stamps I collected!

I woke at 6am, too excited and full of plans to return to sleep. The others in my dorm woke at about seven thirty when I finally started shuffling about to get ready. One is another English girl, who also takes annual leave to travel the world independently. She is planning Tokyo-Kyoto-Hakone plus day trips, whereas I am planning Tokyo-Hakone-Osaka-Koya San-Hiroshima-Miyajima-Kyoto plus day trips for the same period of time!

First I got on a metro train heading for Harajuko, which I hadn't really done justice the previous day. Part way into the journey I realised Akihabara anime district. I jumped off the train spontaneously and realised that a) I was going in the wrong direction for Harajuku anyway and b) I had got off at the ideal stop to change for Akihibara! Lucky accident...

Electric Town, Akihabara

I completed my second successful fully Japanese transaction, gleefully purchasing some 'Lotte' koala mini biscuits to banish my hunger pangs, (which I then remembered I couldn't eat in the street!) and walked to the Akihabara Electric district, where there was an immense queue of Japanese men about my age, apparently for the release of a new saga anime game! Everywhere you looked, starry eyed manga girls with ridiculous proportions begged you to play with them or buy something (usually both)

Unfortunately the Anime museum and shop, my second priorities to see after Electric Town itself, were closed, as Mondays in Japan are like Sundays in Britain. However, in the same building, I found myself a very interesting breakfast of tea and cake. The cake was not like what I'm used to, the sweet potato cake being particularly... challenging, but at least it was pushing me out of my comfort zone a little!

Sweet potato cake. Just as stodgy as it looks!
Interestingly, Japanese packaged cakes come
 with these drying sachets inside!

Whilst I was in Akihabara, I got far too excited about finding a normal toilet (no frightening buttons that have the potential to shoot jets of water at you whilst you're sat, and not a squat either!), and I also bought some amazing souveniers...

Chihuahua waffle anyone? Or would you prefer a St Bernard Burger?

Next, I went to Tokyo station to begin my Japan stamp collection (no really), and see the Imperial Palace. The station is attractive, although not very Japanese looking, and sits in the middle of the high rise metallic business district of Tokyo. I took some photos, collected my stamp, and then headed on to the imperial palace.

Tokyo station is so large, it calls itself a city in its own right!

The imperial palace gardens were closed for Monday, as I knew they would be, but I enjoyed the fountain park and walking the perimeter of the palace. I honed the art of selfies further, but still can't balance my phone and manage a peace sign at the same time. Happily, there wasn't much to see, so it's not a major issue that my face fills most of the photo!

God I'm so happy!

With my first stamp in my notebook, I boldly returned to the hostel to grab my Japan Rail pass, and commenced a tour of Tokyo via the Yamanote line (an over-ground loop of the city), disembarking at every stop and stamping my little notebook. I got to visit Shimbashi (the home of Japanese railways), Kanda, re-visited Ueno, Akihabara, and Shibuya (the latter in the dark, for what I hoped would be more dramatic photos of the neon) and finally arrived at Harajuku. Harajuku is amazing. The closest thing I can compare it to is London's camden market, but without the seedy, druggyness, and more Kuwai (cute!). There were also crepe stores offering ridiculous crepes involving things from cheesecake to Tuna Curry. I personally opted for green tea icecream and 'brown sugar syrup'. It contained three weird gelatinous balls, and the 'syrup' was pretty gelatinous too and, come to mention it, so was the sauce which I had taken to be whipped cream... but the green tea icecream was nice! I'd had a fruit smoothie from Shimbashi for lunch as I'm concerned about the nutrition I've been not getting.

An Harajuku Crepe. Ew.

Last stop was Ginza, as I was hoping to watch a Kabuki performance - Japan's traditional theatre, in which famously only men are allowed to perform, many of whom as female characters. It promised to be an amazing spectacle, but unfortunately my city map was hopelessly vague, and and after I explored all street corners within a three minute (one block) walk of Ginza metro station, I only later discovered that it was ten minutes away. I got very frustrated at that. However Ginza was a beautiful place, full of polished, expensive high end shops, and I came across my first Japanese busker - a talented lady playing a saxophone to a respectable gathering of onlookers. This didn't seem quite right in Japanese culture - in a country where waiters do not accept tips, and eating and drinking in public spaces is not permitted, it seemed to clash with the practice of paying people playing music in the street.

Finally I mooched back to the hostel. Tomorrow my metro pass expires, as I will be going out of town for at least a few hours to explore the seaside town of Kamakura.

#Japan16 first day in Tokyo

Cover Photo: Ueno Park, Tokyo

After spotting whales in the ocean from the plane, and admiring the impressively square, small, identical fields that were very unlike those in England, I landed at 9.30.


I collected my rail pass, and wandered around Narita airport for an hour, impressed to actually see the famous Japanese vending machines in the flesh, and trying not to feel too concerned about so many people wearing protective facemasks!


I boarded the Skyliner train, which was shockingly five minutes late (I assumed I must have somehow missed it, as I'd been assured that Japanese public transport is never late!) and it was a beautiful shiny pointy blue train, which didn't stop nattering in Japanese for a good ten minutes into the journey!I only realised after looking at the map I was given with my Skyliner ticket that I could have saved myself Y1,200 by just getting the subway into the city. I'll write the unnecessary expense off as 'an experience'. It was cheaper than the Narita Express (another train, and my original plan)!

Ｓｅｌｆｉｅ　ｏｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｒａｉｎ．　Ｉ　ｈａｄ　ａ　ｌｏｎｇ　ｗａｙ　ｔｏ　ｇｏ　ｔｏ　ｍａｓｔｅｒ
　ｔｈｅ　ａｒｔ　ｏｆ　ｃａｐｔｕｒｉｎｇ　ｂｏｔｈ　ｍｙ　ｓｅｌｆ　ａｎｄ　ｍｙ　ｓｕｂｊｅｃｔ　ｉｎ　ａ　ｓｅｌｆｉｅ

I spotted a red and gold pavilion in the distance, Japanese boys playing baseball (a popular sport in Japan apparently) and later a lone 'sakura' cherry blossom tree, as we sped into a surprisingly hot and sunny Tokyo, I actually feel like I'm on holiday! Wish I'd taken sun glasses...

The Skyliner terminated at Ueno, and Ueno park was on my list of interesting places, for its Sakura, and its zoo. The Sakura was just starting to bloom. I think it will be perfect by the end of the week! I went to the peony garden where there was a stunning elaborate Chinese gate. I have decided Japan is Disneyworld for photographers. The 20th March also happened to be Ueno Zoos anniversary (it's one of the oldest zoos in Japan) so it was free entry! I'll mentally deduct that Y600 off the cost of my Skyliner ticket. Ueno zoo has a pair of giant pandas, and my best friend loves pandas,  so I joined the immense minute queue to see it. (similar to when I returned time and time again to the red panda in a previous blog about Scotland's Highlands Wildlife Park)!

Ｑｕｅｕｅ　ｔｏ　ｓｅｅ　ｔｈｅ　Ｇｉａｎｔ　Ｐａｎｄａｓ

Ｅａｒｌｙ　Ｓａｋｕｒａ　ｉｎ　Ｕｅｎｏ　Ｐａｒｋ

I saw both pandas. There was no way not to. As Japan's oldest zoo, Ueno zoo has worryingly small enclosures. After seeing a mopey toucan in a cage less than five metres cubed, a balding bear, a seal with two weepy eyes, and a polar bear writhing on the floor in a way suggestive of a mental breakdown on this hot sunny day, I'd had enough. I'm glad I didn't contribute financially to keeping it running. It was interesting from an anthropological perspective though. I was pretty much the only 'western' tourist there, so I got good photos over everyone else's heads! The crowd oohed and ahhed every him the animal they were watching moved, like they were at a fireworks display! There was also the ubiquitous photo taking. Of animals, of selfies, of signs for animal enclosures, of selfies with signs...

Ｒｉｒｉ　ｔｈｅ　Ｐａｎｄａ，　ｐｈｏｔｏｇｒａｐｈｅｄ　ｏｖｅｒ　
ｔｈｅ　ｈｅａｄｓ　ｏｆ　ｍｏｒｅ　ｌｏｃａｌ　ｇｕｅｓｔｓ

Next stop was Asakusa, for my hostel. I chose this hostel on the basis that it won a Hostelworld 'Hoscar' as best hotel in Japan (third best in all of Asia). It's a nice hostel. Bright, large, friendly, with brilliant maps and guides for anywhere you want to go. I also collected my WiFi dongle so I can get maps online and don't need to worry about asking for directions by simply saying "konichiwa, <insert destination here>" in a pleading voice! (although it has worked marvellously so far!)


Next, on to Shibuya, the famous crossing in Tokyo's version of times square. It was a good "Wow, I'm really in Tokyo!" moment, people were walking across backwards, filming themselves on selfie sticks. J-pop was blaring out into the streets over the soundtracks of giant video billboards. I entered a shop which was a bit like HMV - only, being Japanese, half of the music was J-pop, and half of the books were manga. I went to the top to get a good view of the crossing. It was pretty impressive.

Dodging japanese girls (and women!) taking selfies with boyband posters, I then wandered to the nearby Ｙｏｙｏｇｉ park, where I had read I could spot a traditional Japanese wedding! I was out of luck, as it was early evening by the time I arrived, but I did get lucky with some very atmospheric low light shots of the Ｍｅｊｉ　Ｊｉｎｇｕ　temple, and I also saw a lot of fascinating ｈａｒａｊｕｋｕ　ｇｉｒｌｓ！! The park had a few performers dotted around, reminding me of London's Covent garden, and unlike Ueno was a forested sanctuary. Definitely my kind of park!

Ａ　ｖｉｅｗ　ｏｆ　ｍｏｄｅｒｎ　ｔｏｋｙｏ　ｔｈｒｏｕｇｈ　ｔｈｅ　Ｓｈｉｎｔｏ　Ｇａｔｅ

I followed the crowd to the metro station, and eventually returned to Asakusa in the dark, where I climbed (don't ask me why) the eight floors of stairs to the top of the Asakusa Tourist information centre. From here I got fantastic views of the Asakusa's principal attraction- the Senso-Ji temple with it's elaborate gate, and the Tokyo Skytree (Japan's tallest building)．
After that I couldn't resist a visit to the temple. It was a lot quieter and arguably more atmospheric at night, and I got some terrific photos, even though night photography has never been my strong suit.

Ｇｒｉｎｎｉｎｇ　ｌｉｋｅ　ａ　ｌｏｏｎ　ａｔ　Ｓｅｎｓｏ－Ｊｉ　ｇａｔｅ

Ａ　ｐｈｏｔｏ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｅｍｐｌｅ　ｉｔｓｅｌｆ

With all my buzzing around Tokyo, I hadn't had time to eat more than a cookie (which I had to quietly stuff info my mouth as eating in public is not accepted in Japan) but the lovely lady at the hostel gave me directions to an indian restaurant ("they always have vegetarian options") everywhere else was already closing at 8pm, but I had a delicious 'laasi' drink (it was very different to any laasi I've had before), a spinach Dahl curry and an immense naan to eat whilst I watched cringey indian music videos and tried not to inhale the second hand smoke of my fellow diners cigarettes. It was a nice place, and I would happily return if I wasn't seeking more authentic Japan.

Ayrshire Roadtrip: 5th-6th March 2016

I had been planning a roadtrip to South Ayrshire for some months, and finally had a free weekend to do so. My sister was marking Mothers Day with her Boyfriend and his mother in another city, but I recruited a friend (originally a fiancée of a friend, but now my friend in her own right) from Livingston to come with me. We'll call her Fiancée.

After an impressive 1 second PB at my ParkRun, I drove over to Livingston to collect Fiancee. Her husband to be was concerned about where we were going, which I thought was kind of cute, but as I wasn't really sure myself, I gave him a verbal list of tourist destinations in Ayrshire and we drove off.

The first stopping point was a picnic area and fishing lake in North Ayrshire. We pulled in quite quickly after our first glimpse of the Isle of Arran. I make no apologies for the amount of photos of that island in this blog. The mountains were unlike anything else I've seen in this country, they are unusually 'Spiky'.

Spiky mountains for you

The next stop was Largs, for Nardini's "World Famous Icecream" which had actually been recommended to me by our company chairman and his wife. We were excited to see the sea, but like all seaside towns, Largs felt a bit hollow in the winter, We shivered on a bench on the promenade and ate our ice cream from little tubs (Kiwi and Daim Bar flavour for Fiancee, and Double Cream Vanilla and Butter Pecan for me, in case you wondered!) it was nice, but other than the range of flavours, it wasn't exceptional. The price was quite reasonable at just over £1 a scoop.  We weren't allowed to eat it inside the shop.

The Ice cream parlour, on a deceptively sunny afternoon.

We walked into the town centre to see if there was anything interesting there, but were very disappointed. We went into a Bakery/Cafe that I was excited to see hadn't yet been taken over by Greggs, so Fiancee could use the facilities. For this reason, I felt compelled to buy something from the bakery, but most of the shelves were empty. What remained was mostly savoury pies, so I ended up with a macaroon. It was deliciously sickly (so sugary it glued my teeth together) and overall I regretted purchasing it! We also went into a cute New Age shop full of dream-catchers and fairy statues, that had a popular sideline going in dog fancy dress! Although I was tempted to dress my parents' dog up as a rabbit, I refrained and we left awkwardly, as the shop was so small you felt compelled to make a purchase.

Our next stop, less than ten minutes drive away, was Kelburn Castle, a norman keep covered in awesome Brazillian street art! It also comprised an activity centre for kids basically - there was horse riding, a petting farm, various nature and history trails, and assorted grafitti covered buildings and teepees like a sort of youth club. The sun was getting low in the sky, but this place turned out to be an absolute gem of a discovery, despite the main tower being covered in scaffolding.
 

We had the place to ourselves, indeed, until we got to the castle, I was expecting to be approached by someone telling us it was closed! Approaching the tower involved walking through a beautiful glen featuring two waterfalls and hundreds of snowdrops! I took so many photos, Fiancée was very patient but I think I was pushing her limit!

 

   

With a quick pull over for a photo of the sun going down over Arran, we headed into Ayr where we parked up and found an independent and very cosy B&B to spend the night. Although the hosts were suprised to see the pair of us turning up out of the blue on their doorstep, they were very accommodating, and we had the last (lovely) room with a beautiful bathroom across the hall.

This photo looked awful on my camera, but now I'm glad I kept it

The Daviot B&B, tucked in a cute side street just metres from the seafront

We had dinner at a lovely new bistro called Savoy. I had a magnificent pizza with a crust like fresh, doughy bread, and fantastic chocolate cake to share for dessert. It transpired that the manager had been to the same hostel as I had in Minca (Colombia) only three months later! We had a good chat, before Fiancee and I crossed the road to the very fancy "Tree House" bar, where we had a couple of delicious cocktails (I sampled a "lost Geisha") before heading back to our cosy B&B for the night.

In the morning, we had a quick walk down to the seafront, before heading into town (even less inspiring that Largs, if you were wondering!) and then it was back in the car, to Culzean country park for a very different sort of castle!

The Council hall at Ayr. Almost as impressive as Glasgow's!
Note the pothole - this became a standing joke of the trip!

I warned you about my photos of Arran!

Culzean Castle was a chance for me to use my National Trust for Scotland Membership, and I think this alone was worth the £16 I paid for a year's Young Person membership! Culzean Castle also has something like 500 acres of grounds, including a deer park and a swan pond, and miles of scenic clifftop walking.

This little lady let me give her a head rub, she was so cute and fluffy!

The deer were amazing to see, I hope their enclosure was big enough, because I have never seen so many deer spread out like this in one place before! I don't know why one doe was away from the rest of the herd, but she came over for attention, which was lovely. In the meantime, we saw the two stags locking antlers, which was cool! I think it was just play fighting, as they didn't fight for long and nobody was harmed.

If only I'd had a zoom lens!

Next stop was the castle itself, impressively well maintained, but I believe it was just a holiday home, so it never saw any action fortunately. The castle is only open through summer, so we just took photos of the outside before exploring more of the parkland. 

Culzean Castle itself

Snowdrops along the clifftop walk

We saw two swans, one male and one female, at the swan pond.
There was also an epic childrens play area here!

The cute tea shop and little toy shop!

   Next we drove up to East Ayrshire, specifically Kilmarnock, for lunch, and also to see the Dick Institute, which according to Trip Advisor is an excellent Public Art Gallery with free entry. Whilst the building was certainly very impressive from the outside, it was sadly closed on Sundays, so we hopped across the road for a delicious upmarket pub lunch at Franklin and Sloan, whose motto is "Cheers to Adventure!". It was a nice place.

After lunch we drove home, experiencing strange flurries of snowflakes despite the temperature being five degrees Celsius! We had a great adventure, with a lot of beautiful scenery, taking full advantage of the low season for Scottish beach tourism.

Botanic Gardens of Glasgow: Winter/Spring 2016

I thought I'd do a less specific post, about one of my favourite things to do in the winter here in Glasgow.

Botanic gardens were a new concept to me, coming from Suffolk. I had seen the giant greenhouse at Jeffson Garden in Leamington Spa when I used to live nearby, but I had kind of thought it was a one off. Besides, that was far more modern than the dome-like white cages of victorian design that I've seen in Glasgow.

The fisrt Botanic Gardens I visited was the Winter Gardens at the People's Palace on Glasgow Green. A colleague and I often walk around the green in our lunch break, for the freshest air you can achieve in an inner-city. This time, we ventured into the peoples' palace (it appeared to be free, and we're people right?) and I wandered towards a bright doorway. What I found within was absolutely amazing, to me at least!

Glasgow's tallest palm tree, I'd imagine by quite some margin!

Despite the bitter cold, it was a beautiful sunny day, and I found myself in a huge dome, full of living things glowing green in the bright sunshine. The atmosphere was deliciously warm and a little damp, and I stared in wonder at the exotic plants on display. Ginger plant! Coffee bushes! Passion fruit and Palm trees, all under one stunningly beautiful roof, in a slightly grotty park in Glasgow.

We made a habit of visiting this secret warm paradise, cheating the coldness for a few sweet moments, and more frequently than not toasting the occasion with unremarkable cake and tea from the teashop inside the Garden,

  

The other botanic garden I have (just this weekend) enjoyed, is Glasgow Botanics, in the West End. I've run through the park or visited it with friends on a number of ocassions, but it's never occurred to me to go inside, until this weekend.

I have only been inside the main dome, and although it doesn't boast a teashop or a giant palm tree, there is an impressive Koi pond!

Fish.

I was hypnotised by the giant fish for quite some time, before moving into the main dome, which is full of statues, and exotic foliage. There was the warm steamy atmosphere again, and I also noticed a series of mirrored plates suspended from the ceiling, I assume to maximise sun exposure for the plants.

Next time you're thinking of a 'birdcage theme'
for your home decorating, go this bit further.

And they told me I couldn't get locally sourced bananas!
  

 That's about as far as my adventuring got this weekend! Hopefully next weekend has something a little further from the beaten track in store :)

Skiing in the Cairngorms 2: 19th-21st February 2016

My second ski trip was in many ways more difficult than my first. I had envisaged gliding confidently and gracefully across the thick snow, maybe the odd passer by stopping to watch and point in admiration as I didn't fall over at all, and demonstrated such skillful cross country skiing that noone could believe this was only my second time on skiis.

It was an unrealistic vision, but it powered me up the A9 as the darkness drew in on Friday evening. For the first time, I would be taking Astrid up to Aviemore, and it would be the first time I tested her in real snow. I was nervous about it as I don't have snow tires, but given her Volvo heritage, I felt sure she wouldn't let me down.

I stopped off on the way in Crieff, to pick up my friend and 'ski instructor' who had arranged the weekend. The journey to his was interesting, I was dodging potholes as I went (the recent winter weather had really taken its toll on the roads in Perthshire), both on the road from Perthshire to him (The A822 for those who are interested) and away. There were some scenic detours, but I was unable to appreciate them because a) it was dark despite the moon, and b) I was focused on the road, specifically where potholes might be in said road.

We arrived at the Coylumbridge Hilton shortly after ten, having experienced a few flurries of snow (which we got excited about but never settled) and almost no ice driving. We awoke early the next morning and I was excited to see light snow outside! After a substantial breakfast (probably too substantial if truth be told!) I drove up to the Hayfield, where Astrid traversed snow for the first time (anti-lock breaks, whee!) she looked very at home in a snow flurry with my long skiis propped up against her froggy rear lights.

Astrid. Admire my skilful photo doctoring!

After slipping about on the reassuringly flat and open field for about half an hour on surprisingly sticky snow (a good portion of it was stuck to the bottom of my skiis and there were grass patches when we finished!) we crossed the road to try one of the Glenmore forest trails.

The snow on the hiking trails was (quite literally) gratingly thin, but the scenery more than made up for it. Following the trail alongside a babbling stream, we were forever stopping to take photos which just couldn't do the beauty of the place justice. Once again, I was reminded of how much I loved Scotland. We walked most of the route but did get a little skiing in, which was fabulous. It was just how I had imagined cross country skiing would be, only more fun!

Me having a lot more fun than I look like!

Snowing gently.

We arrived back at the car to find the gates up to Cairngorm mountain closed, so on the recommendation of another hiker (albeit she had two adorable dogs, rather than skiis), we headed down into Aviemore in pursuit of better snow and lunch. Unfortunately we only found the latter. The weather had turned miserable and grey – cold enough to be bleak, but not enough for snow, so we pondered our next moves in the entertaining 'Papa Rock' diner over a toasted sandwich, non-vegetarian mushroom soup, and onion based salad.

Then the outstanding idea occurred (and I can't take credit I'm afraid) to visit the Highlands Wildlife Park. We trudged around in diagonal sleet and freezing wind to see some amazing and beautiful animals which I have never seen before, in close quarters, including snow leopards, polar bears, arctic foxes, and an adorable red panda... my day was made!

Snow leopard. Isn't his coat magnificent?

We visited this little guy four times. I'm in love.

We left the park as it closed, and made it back to the hotel in time for a nice hot swim, and then dinner in the Bistro. The forecast promised better snow tomorrow, and we had a great trail involving a loch and a castle which we were itching to skii, but vowed to hike it if the forecast was wrong.

Sunday dawned damp but barely warm. The forecast was wrong! Sleety rain encouraged us to linger over another immense breakfast, before packing up and deciding to head up Cairngorm, which was open today. Excitingly, most of the downhill runs were closed, so the mountain wasn't as crowded as our last visit. The wind up here was much fiercer, and I borrowed some goggles to fully insulate myself against the biting wind. Once again we experienced sticky snow, but this time it was offset in places by icey slopes. I coped with the ice, barely, but it was a struggle and I wasn't enjoying myself, so we moved into a snowy patch where I could practice my 'snowplow' breaking in skiis (pointing your skiis into a V shape and biting the edges of the skiis into the snow to prevent sliding). After a while I managed to accomplish it from a standing start, but my default method of breaking from skiing at any speed remains 'the faceplant'! More successfully, I learnt to turn my skiis so I was facing the opposite direction. I took some photos of the impressive pattern I made in the snow from my practising! (well, I was impressed by it!)

This could be a photo of me, hard to tell.

The snow was much, MUCH deeper than the previous morning!

The leg out of the photo is literally buried in snow

That afternoon, we drove to Grandtully, to visit the Highland Chocolatier, whom a colleague and friend had recommended to me when I was working in Swindon last year! We were disappointed to find that the kitchen closed for lunch at 3pm (we arrived at 15:05) so we had a slice of cake each for lunch, and perused the mini chocolate museum and shop. I took photos of two giant chocolate wedding cakes for my friends who are brides to be (well it's in my interest, as I'll be getting a slice at the reception!) and purchased some highly expensive but absolutely magnificent chocolates from an enormous selection of velvet truffles. Possibly the strangest flavour I have ever heard of (which was delicious but weird) was liquorice and caramel. I also chose rose, passion-fruit, and lime and chilli.

Slightly bigger than my head. Happy Easter!

We took a beautiful back-road route through Aberfeldy and a stunning glen, following the A826/A822, which I would highly recommend. Apparently it's even more beautiful in the spring when the heather is in bloom – I will have to return then, and with my camera to hand!

Overall it was a beautiful weekend, with a decent amount of skiing despite the circumstances, some beautiful scenery and animals, and delicious chocolate. What's not to love? Back in Suffolk, a weekend like this would have seen me confined to the house for two days, but here there is no excuse not to adventure!