Tag: travel (Page 2 of 2)

A Lazy Autumn Weekend

October 27, 2013 / enroutetoawesome / 0 Comments

By Gem

Yesterday, we waved farewell to the other Shiga JETs, as they set off on their Halloween adventures in Kyoto and Osaka, and we’ve been living vicariously through our newsfeeds as they party on down (in costume) across two cities and three prefectures. It appears that a good weekend has been had by all, with only minimal vomiting (which is nice).

The two of us, however, are not the most active of beasts, so we decided to take advantage of a weekend when no-one would be attempting to lure us out by lurking in our apartment and embracing the Lazy.

It has been wonderful.

We’ve enjoyed the sort of breakfasts that you simply can’t whip up in under fifteen minutes on a weekday morning. We’ve dug out scarves and gloves from summer storage to help keep out the new nip in the air. We’ve aired our futon and other bedding while there’s still some sun to do it in, as well as catching up on pre-winter cleaning tasks.

I’ve planted the very last crops we’re likely to harvest before the cold really sets in; new spinach, lettuce, coriander and rocket seedlings, as well as some Asian greens and chrysanthemum seed that I don’t really expect to do much before the snow falls. Still, it’s good to hope.

Kin has worked on his T-Shirt design for JETs in our prefecture (yes, that is a scrotum; google “tanuki” and you’ll understand).

We’ve rugged up and gone for lovely walks (before the temperature gets too low), and enjoyed the Nagahama sights.

We’ve caught up with beloved friends in Australia and sent lots of long-awaited emails to our wonderful families (aided by rather too much red wine in the evenings). I’ve also dug out the scarf Kin has been waiting so patiently for and have added another couple of feet to it. We’ve had a couple of full-day meetings, so I’ve had plenty of time to get my speed up. I think he’ll finally get to wear the thing this winter!

…and then start complaining that real wool is itchy and never put it on again, I bet.

We went to Hard Off (our local second hand store) and bought a lovely new (ish) nabe pan for delicious winter hotpots. Our old one was looking a little ill and had an unsettling crack in one side that was getting longer and longer every time it was used! I also bought this wonderful book, full of simple sewing patterns that Beans can hopefully help me work out when I’m back in Australia. I can’t sew at all, but I’m definitely ready to learn!

Goodness me, looking back at all of that, it looks as though we’ve had a very busy weekend! Somehow, though, there’s still been plenty of time for Kin to play Pokemon and for me to catch up on Downton Abbey (and my ironing, damn it).

A few more of Kin’s shots can be seen on our Facebook page.

We may or may not be back in the social whirl next week, but whatever happens, we’re both so grateful for this downtime together. It’s lovely to be lazy!

Gem,

Butterflies and Flowers: Nagahama Kimono Festival

October 18, 2013 / enroutetoawesome / 6 Comments

By Gem (A more complete album of Kin’s pictures can be found on our Facebook page.)

On October 12, Nagahama once again celebrated its long silk-weaving history by hosting the Nagahama Kimono Garden Party in Kurokabe Square

Every year, a thousand glamorous butterflies dress in their most beautiful kimono (both modern and traditional) and descend on the town for their chance to eat free ice cream, win lottery prizes, and be relentlessly photographed. And photographed. And photographed!

One of the nicest things about this festival is that, unlike most kimono-related occasions, you get to wear any sort of kimono you like. Traditional Kyoto, modern Kimono Hime vibe, formal, informal, anything goes.

Most gorgeous were the young women in furisode, the brilliantly coloured, long-sleeved kimono traditionally worn for Coming Of Age. I believe that I, along with the other matrons, carried myself well in paler robes with simpler designs. But the furisode girls’ showy designs and spectacular hairstyles definitely put us in the shade!

Fortunately (unfortunately?) even if I weren’t in furisode, an Anglo-Saxon in Japanese formal wear is unusual enough in a country town that I still attracted plenty of attention. I did mention there were photographers, right?

A LOT of photographers. And when you have that many photographers, it actually gets a little hard to deal with. Of course, when you’ve dressed up to feel beautiful, it’s lovely to have other people think you look beautiful as wel

But not, actually, as lovely as you’d think. The photographers were like seagulls at a picnic; as soon as you toss a crust to one (Hai, shashin OK,) the whole flock spots it and before you know it, you’re surrounded by thirty lenses and your friends have disappeared.

I don’t think anyone was as relentlessly pursued as this little one, pictured here trying to hide from the solid mass of photographers surrounding her. Fear not, this photo did not add to her woes! Kin’s work is very subtle.

Poor Kin, who absolutely HATES being photographed, was also a popular target, thanks to his blonde hair and red hat. Luckily, he had his own lens to hide behind, and managed to fight back nobly.

Of course, like any festival, the kimono ladies weren’t the only attraction. Kurokabe is popular with tourists at any time, and many local organisations were also out showing off, like the local antique gun club (weapons manufacture is another local specialty…yay?) and a group of Imperial Guards in badly-fitting uniforms.

This gentleman was a noble-looking exception to the rest of his cohort, and we suspect this was mostly to do with his age. The rest of the “guards” were scruffy looking young men in their teens and early twenties, who were FAR too scrawny for their jackets, while he was probably more the age group who first commissioned the uniforms (and had the income to pay for them).

These guards were also not the only uniformed warriors present on the day! We were fortunate enough to run into another Nagahama celebrity having a snooze in the sun.

Our commitment to living locally was wonderfully rewarded by this festival. Rabid photographers, beautiful ladies and firearm enthusiasts (not to mention giant beers and samurai cats) make a combination that will definitely live on in our memories.

Again, for a more complete album of Kin’s photographs, please check out our Facebook page. Meanwhile, what amazing events are happening in YOUR area? Let us know!

Gem

August was….

September 3, 2013 / enroutetoawesome / 1 Comment

Hot, HOT days!

Fireworks on the weekend.Stepping lightly on history (at Nishi Hongan-ji in Kyoto)

Lunches at home (no kyuushoku!)

Underwater adventures at Ishigaki.

Our wedding anniversary; and the most nicely decorated rissole sandwich we’ve ever seen (not to mention those ginormous beers)!

August was sandy shoes and sunburnt bottoms, scraped knees, sleepless nights, wasp stings, far too many drinks… and lots and lots of fun! There have been adventures with new friends, not to mention an adventure or two with just the two of us! It’s been social, wonderful, very, very steamy… and we’re both a bit glad that it’s over!

Roll on September and the beginning of autumn!

Gem and Kin

Ishigaki Island

September 1, 2013 / enroutetoawesome / 5 Comments

By Gem
278 Well here we are, back at work and back from three days in Okinawa. We had a wonderful time in the Yaeyama Islands and feel much better for it, despite receiving a scrape or two from some coral as well as a really stupid-looking triangle I managed to burn around my glowing white butt.

The triangle is brown now. The butt is still white.

With the end of third term, our Japan countdown has started. It’s only eleven months now until we’ll be back in Australia and we’re starting to feel a certain amount of pressure to make the most of our remaining time. With that in mind, we figured, it’s summer, the kids are on break and hotel air conditioning is included in the price. What better time for a trip away?

Ishigaki starts being lovely as soon as you land. Kin made a dash for the luggage carousel, while I made one for the Ladies, but even those activities were made more pleasant than on the mainland. The orchid decorating the washbasins was deep gold, cheerful and actually alive. Meeting Kin at the carousel, it was the same; the entire airport was full of colourful plants and aquariums with brilliant local sea life.

Ishigaki is basically a tourist trap; a pleasant, reasonably-priced tourist trap that actually has the history and the natural attractions to back up its reputation. They want to be certain that your time is enjoyable from start to finish, I suppose, so the airport was just the first step.

The Ishigaki landscape looks a lot like Northern NSW or Queensland if it had been settled by Thai or Chinese people. The architecture is completely different to our area of Japan; lots of very solid, blocky little ground-hugging structures with very different lines and shapes to the ones in Honshu. Also a lot of cement! I suppose there isn’t a lot of hardwood available in a climate like that and you can tell that they must see some really nasty weather sometimes.

We’d booked rooms at a basic (but nice) Minshuku, so we hopped off our bus at the ferry port, found it very quickly (thank you, Google Maps!) then dumped our bags and headed out to find bikes to rent.

Now I know I usually rave about bikes being the best way to see a place, but I will actually admit this isn’t the case on Ishigaki. The recommended way of getting around the island is by rental car and I can definitely see why; the cars are very cheap and the island is very hilly! Nevertheless, we boarded our gearless mama-charis and headed off to adventure.

We spent a LOT of time on those bikes over the next three days. DAMN does that island have a lot of hills! We managed to survive the experience, see a lot and have a lovely time, but if you can, just rent the car. You’ll be happier in the long run.

Most of our time was spent cycling the (many, many) hills of Ishigaki or exploring the awesome coral at Yonehara Beach; we spent two extremely happy days on that reef alone (I could probably spend the rest of my life there).

Still, we did manage to haul ourselves away on our last day to visit Taketomi Island, which along with a star-sand beach and its own selection of fabulous reefs also has a very, very old town, which has maintained a very traditional Okinawan style of living.

It also has some seriously nice sugar-cane icecream, which Kin ordered and I promptly stole after tasting (he stole my mango sorbet).

Sadly, we didn’t get to Iriomote Island. We only had three full days on the islands and we spent most of them on Ishigaki. To be honest, we probably should have based ourselves on Iriomote instead, but Ishigaki coral is amazing and the town has attractions of its own; the food is cheap and awesome. Soba is a bit of an island specialty, and they serve it in a variety of ways, but it was mostly the preparation and seasoning of the food, rather than differences in the specific dishes, that made it all so enjoyable.

The green bubbles above are umi budou (sea grape) , a really, really delicious, crunchy seaweed that was served as an entrée at a few of the restaurants. Apparently we are much too far north to be able to get it in Shiga (we have the nasty, petrol-flavoured, scraped-off-a-rock hajiki instead) but I’m already dispatching spies in Australia to hunt for it during their coastal and ocean photography missions.

Perhaps most importantly, we pursued our joint hobby of finding and irritating crabs of various species. The Yaeyama islands are the hermit-crabbinest place I’ve ever been, and we managed to aggravate individuals both large and small.

We strongly recommend Ishigaki and the rest of the Yaeyama islands to homesick Australians and people who enjoy nature tourism. They also have a lot to offer people who enjoy a bit of luxury on a tropical island, but we didn’t do those bits, so if that’s what you’re into, you’ll have to Google it.

Kin is popping some more of our photos up in an album on our Facebook page, so click here for lots of pictures of furious crabs!

Gem

P.S. I’ve tried to avoid giving you a bunch of boring travel details, but if anyone is actually planning a trip and wants to know more about getting to or staying at Ishigaki, I’d be thrilled to share!

July was….

July 30, 2013 / enroutetoawesome / 1 Comment

Swallows nesting EVERYWHERE.

Yakiniku dinners with our lovely new pan.

Tanabata wishes!

Some changes from green rice fields.

Crops of summer vegies from our balcony garden (the zucchini and beans have been especially great).

Early morning trips to (or from!) Kyoto.

Lots of cycling in the hills on our old Mama-charis.

Cool sushi dinners (with cool dinner beers)

Lots and lots of wasps and hornets! We both like them, but everyone else seems to have a problem.

Nagahama folk just chilling until the weather cools back down.

July was warm, wonderful and full of quiet adventures. We said goodbye to so many friends, but we don’t feel sad; we’re grateful we met them (and are already looking forward to times when their travels take them to Oz)!

To all the new JETS, welcome! Here’s to August and the great times we’re going to have!

Gem and Kin

June, 2013: Our Kyoto

July 4, 2013 / enroutetoawesome / 1 Comment

We took our Aussie friends to town,
To play and play and play.
But once we all hopped off the train,
Our playful went away!

First we used our GPS,
And walked and walked and walked.
Our tired guests enjoyed themselves,
But weary feet soon balked.

Then we all hopped on a bus
And stood and stood and stood.
Hemmed in by sweaty, smelly folk
With elbows made of wood.

Now we’re wiser; we rent bikes
To fly and fly and fly
From Fushimi to Gion
And Shijo Shotengai

From Tofukiji we set forth
To Sanjusangendo.
We followed Kamogawa’s path
To party town Sanjo.

From here on in, I’m telling you
It’s true, it’s true, it’s true!
Cycling in Kyoto town’s
The only thing to do!

Well…

Okay, that’s something of an exaggeration; Kyoto is awesome, however you choose to hit it and the Kyoto buses (￥500 all-day passes FTW!) are definitely not the worst way to get around.

What’s NOT an exaggeration, however, is the COMPLETE awesomeness of using bicycles to get around the city. Kyoto has a large population, but it doesn’t really cover that much ground. It was built in a valley back when people still had to walk everywhere, so almost everything you’ll want to see is actually quite close to the centre of the city.

Kin and I have been hitting the Kyoto roads pretty hard lately (thank you, Google Maps!). We used to try and do one or two big things each time we went there, but the bikes have made the whole thing so comfortable and familiar that now we just hop off the train and sort of drift; hence the number of locations in the above (terrible) poem!

Our Kyoto

Is different every time! This week, we felt like a nice relaxing afternoon in the city. Nothing special, just a bit of shopping, a bit of a stroll, that sort of thing.

(If you’re suffering from travel fatigue and fancy a day like that, Kyoto has you covered.)

Most of our day was spent wandering in Gion and in the Shijo shopping district (a massive area which we still haven’t even BEGUN to explore, despite spending hours under its awnings). Kin was in search of art books, preferably second-hand, while I just fancied an amble. Even if you’re not much of a shopper, there is still an awful lot of interesting stuff in this area, and the ride to and from is simply lovely, whichever route you pick.

Kin found some excellent books while I admired the pretty ladies and earmarked some shops for more thorough investigation at a later date. Then, off we went to Sanjo!

Sanjo is a wonderful place and not nearly famous enough as a destination for visitors. Like most of Kyoto, it has some pretty solid history (involving the Shinsengumi), but if you’re a young party fiend, this is honestly the area you should check out on a Saturday night.

Kin and I are NOT young party fiends, but we have been befriended by several, so we’ve spent our fair share of time on the banks of the Kamo, sipping on beers and watching the street performers. Even if you aren’t in the mood for an all-nighter, watching the river after a long day’s touristing (even surrounded by this much activity) can be surprisingly restful.

However:

I wouldn’t really recommend this itinerary for a non-local visiting the city, though, especially if you’re only dropping by for the day.

I will never give anyone orders about what should go and see in Kyoto, because it’s KYOTO. There are an incredible amount of different experiences available, which you should decide on based on the time available and your own tastes.

Cycling is simply the best way to tie those experiences together. It turns Kyoto into a CITY, not just a collection of locations. The cycling time feels more restful than its bus-based equivalent and makes for a much more relaxing time, with none of those low-blood-sugar-rushing-for-the-bus squabbles that are so easy to get into when travelling.

So, for those who are interested, I give you:

How To Experience Kyoto In This Most Perfect Of Ways

Man, I’m going to regret telling y’all this… There may never be a bike free again.

Okay, the way we do it is this: we get off the train at Kyoto station (if you have bags, you can rent a locker) and walk in a straight line for about ten minutes. Our destination is this place:

http://kyoto.j-hoppers.com/

J-Hoppers is a hostel chain which, along with K’s House, we’ve had good experiences with. In Kyoto, we often don’t go there to stay, however, we go there because they provide the most awesome service ever: Rental bicycles! For ￥100 per hour (or ￥500 for the whole day and evening) your chariot awaits! There is a small amount of paperwork involved (just in case you’re actually a gang of international bike thieves). The bikes are pretty crappy, but are more than enough for city hopping. Just try to get one with a basket. You’ll thank me for that advice as soon as you buy ANYTHING.

If you don’t feel like walking that far, there are a lot of other options for renting cycles which are closer to the station; we’re just cheap and ￥500 is hard to argue with!

Then, choose a location on Maps (or download a cycling map), and off you go. Feel free to get sidetracked by the many wonderful things you’ll see on the way!

L Let me know about your trips in the area! Kyoto is always full of treasures and I’d love to see other people’s finds.

Happy travels!

Gem