Supertoll Travel Times With Stephaline

And also Michael.

[stephaline-blog]

Day 11. Kyoto 

1-5. On one of the hottest days on our trip, we decided to hire bikes, from this great little hireplace called Emusica, and ride around Kyoto to visit all the shrines we physically could. It was super fun, super hot, super tiring, and totally worth it. Pictured are Nijo Castle, the Toji temple, but we also checked out the Imperial palace, and cycled around to some of the other temples without going into them. We also found the only cherry blossom tree in Japan (maybe???) and I got my duck face on. 

6-9. We then took on the greatest job of all, the Fushimi-Inari Shrine, with thousands of orange toriis covering a mountain 233m above sea level. I had to sit and compose myself BEFORE we started walking, then Michael looked it up and said it would only take 45 minutes. We then climbed to the motherfucking TOP. It took well over 2 hours all up. Cruel, horrible liar. (okay it was worth it though). 

10. Dan and Meredith were in Kyoto too! They met us at a cute bar above the bike hireplace, made friends with the owner with us, then got tabahodai and nomehodai (all you can eat and drink) until we stumbled home pissed as farts. Kyoto is good. 

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Day 10. Hiroshima (Miyajima) and Kyoto 1. We took a ferry to the island of Miyajima where the iconic Great Torii greeted lots of tourists scrambling over each other to take photos, of something we would be able look at for a good number of hours yet. 2. The island is full of wild deer, which obnoxiously bothered tourists, following them and trying to eat their food. Naturally we were terrified. 3. How's the serenity? 4. There were a lot of these in Japan, and this is the one time I could get Michael to go in one. I'll treasure this photo forever. 5-6. Walking up the stairs to the Daishoin temple, and Michael being daring and ringing a temple bell!! ;-O 7. There was an owl cafe on the island, and we excitedly ran in to check it out. I just somehow expected them to be flying around happily in comfortable surrounds even though it wouldn't have made any sense. Of course when we got in there they were chained to the trees and looked like the saddest animals in the world. Then we felt grotty and dumb. 8. We topped off our trip to Hiroshima with a quick look at the Shukkei-en, the palace gardens. It was alright. It had this cool bridge! 9. From there we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto! We were staying about 10 mins by foot away from Ponto-cho, the district full of restaurants, bars and tea houses along the river. After about an hour of choosing, we had a great meal and listened to 'Maybe Tonight' by Earl Klugh on repeat for the duration of the evening. The Japanese aren't great at restaurant music. We also then wandered around Gion looking for a bar, spotted a geisha, and found a tiny classy whisky bar where we were the only customers and had the two bar staff standing silently and awkwardly as we awkwardly drank. We left quickly and one of them followed us out asking us what was wrong, to which we replied we were just sleepy and had to go home. :-/ :-/ 10. View from one of the temples at Miyajima. This photo is supposed to be higher up but tumblr decided it should be here. I guess you're the boss tumblr.

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Day 9. Hiroshima 1. The view from our apartment. Not bad! 2-6.Some of the iconic structures and statues at the Peace Park. It was a beautiful, but somber (and horribly humid) stroll through the park. Sadako's statue for all children killed by the blast was probably the most powerful for me, followed by the dome. 7. Then of course the Memorial museum, which was horrific, and spared no detail. Finally it was interesting to know how many countries have nuclear warfare stored up, and how Obama's pledge to not let anything like this happen again seems sweet but somehow hopeless. Given who could be president next year!!! I'll stop ranting now. 8. Hiroshima Castle. I think the clenched teeth expressions was due to the 35 degree heat. Attractive. 9. View from a really boring museum inside it which was mostly in Japanese, but luckily had air conditioning! And this amazing view. 10. TURTLES!!!! We also went to an izakaya for dinner in our street and ordered the entire thing without speaking a word of English (as no one there did), felt very proud. Thanks google translate!!!

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Day 8: Mt Koya to Hiroshima 1. What a feast! A traditional Buddhist vegetarian meal, feat. lots of things we couldn't name, and flavours we didn't expect. And green tea and steamed rice. 2-7. Some picturesque highlights of the cemetery near our temple, which went on for many kilometers. We also walked it at night which was creepy and spirited away-esque. We both felt like Chihiro afraid we were going to turn into pigs. 8. We made it to Hiroshima! We were staying in a very lovely quiet, elderly part of town 15 minutes walk from the Peace Park, so we trammed into Honduri for the night. 9. We found a craft beer bar in town, thanks to google maps, and of course it was full of tourists. 10. And we had okonomiyaki and it was FUCKING INCREDIBLE. Not pictured: more karaoke, including Michael serenading me with I'm All Out Of Love, and my disdain when the waiter interrupted a flawless rap of King Kunta to deliver our drinks.

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Day 7: Mt Koya

1 & 2. It was a long long day of travelling to Mt Koya, but luckily there were things to occupy our time while we travelled, like cute japanese kids, and an incredible view, particularly while in the cable car up the mountain.

3-7. We explored the many temples and beautiful gardens of the mountain, including a little tea ceremony in a large hall. A visiting couple saw us wandering aimlessly and brought us our own tea and biscuits to have; people are just SO goddamn nice here.

8. We stayed at a lovely Shukubo (buddist temple stay) near the middle of town, with possibly the best view outside a room one could hope for. We were greeted by a buddhist monk and seemed to be the only people staying apart from a party of 6 older japanese guests who were very noisy but lovely.

9-10. As part of the stay we had robes to dress in after bathing, but unfortunately we were too late to bathe, and just pretended we were samurais/geishas instead. Our sleep on the futon floor was quite comfy, and the vegetarian dinner was quite interesting... more pictures to come!

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Day 6: Tokyo 1-5. The Miraikan! Museum of Science and Technology. Featuring lots of super cool stuff, like robots (including Asimo), space, sweet technology apps, sustainability info, and creepy shit. Also, Björk Digital was there, which meant I got to see all the virtual reality film clips again, and share them with Michael. Felt like the coolest yet geekiest fan ever. 6. Gundam the robot at Diver City, where we had a pretty good lunch! 7. OOOOH NOOOO GUYS IT IS GODZILLA FOR SERIOUS 8. Yakitori with gang at Shimokitazawa!! 9. A baby who Dan became friends with briefly. 10. Nomohodai, aka all you can drink! Unfortunately it was at the end of our night and I could only fit in one beer, hence actually pretty expensive.

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A gif gift for you!

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Day 5: Tokyo

1. We set off for Kamakura for the day. First stop, a long hike to the Big Buddha, which was not exactly planned. We saw a kite! And then a sign that said they would steal your food and scratch you so don’t go near them. :(

2. The walk to Big Buddha was so muddy, slippery and uneven, my legs were shaking by the time we got there. Michael’s expression says it all.

3-4. Daibutsu! Aka Big Buddha. Pretty impressive. I was trying to get Michael to take a photo looking like I was holding the buddha, but he blew it.

5. Michael’s new profile picture. The hydrangeas were gorrrrgeous.

6-7. Neat little cave with mini shrines, and the garden around the cave with child buddhas.

8. G’day mate, welcome to me pile o’ bricks! Just kidding, lol - this is Hasedera.

9-10. Back in Shinjuku, beautiful Kahli, Dan, Michael and I wandered through great little alleyways full of izakayas and bars, settling on a standup bar full of japanese business men and fellow gaigin. Where we tried pork pancreas and rectum. OISHII!!

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Day 4: Tokyo

1. The best motherfucking Ramen I’ve ever had in my life. Ditto Michael. However, our bodies were not ready for it, as it created the quickest bowel movement I’ve ever had in my life.

2-3. But we moved on to Ueno Park and checked out some of the shrines there. A lot of museums were available to check out but instead we moved on to...

4- 6. Asakusa, which was a favourite of our trip. Very impressive temples and lovely markets and shops, including a huge Don Quijote where everything in it is tax free, cheap, and ridiculous.

7. A nice stop off involving Hoppy (shochu and beer) and Cassis (idk)

8. The Asahi headquarters, feat a building that looks like a beer, and one that looks like a golden carrot/ pretty great hat for Michael. That’s also the Tokyo skytree behind it.

9. Baseball simulation! I actually did better than Michael somehow.

10. Early to bed, for little Mike is all tuckered out.

[stephaline-blog]

Day 3: Tokyo

1. Left apartment looking for breakfast. Found a shrine instead, fair trade. 

2. Not quite Scarjo...Shibuya Crossing. 

3. Found another kind of shrine in Tower Records, worshipping the church of Radiohead. 

4. Also found Michael’s personal shrine to cheap comfy clothing, Uniqlo. 

5. Tokyo Dome, full of all sorts of attractions, including my first ever baseball game. 

6-7. GIANTS fans watching them get completely slaughtered by the Nagoya Dragons. BUT STILL: 

8. G is for Great, I is for Incredible, A is for Athletic, N is for Never Quitting, T is for Terrific S is for Superb and that spells GIANTS!

9. Pretty up and down ridey thing some of us went on!

10. What do you do after your team loses? Sing out your sorrows. Drunken Karaoke in Shinjuku, where you all would rather be. 

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Day 2: Tokyo

1. Welcome to the Meiji Shrine, friendos!

2. Cleansing myself before entering the temple. One of those things we weren’t sure about doing- was it disrespectful to do it if we weren’t shinto, or to not pay our respects? In the end we went ahead and did it, and I think it was the right choice. 

3. Michael was sad to learn he had to drink all of this sake. 

4. A pretty boy in a pretty place! (gardens around the Meiji shrine). 

5. Two pretty boys!

6. Superfriends at Yoyogi Park, where I tried my very first Chu-hai. After one sip, I was hammered. 

7. Superfriends at Za Watami in Shinjuku; excellent food, and lots of beer and sake!

8. Harajuku! Can you see us on the screen? We are there on the left! Konichiwa!

9. Our friends Dan and Meredith took us across town to Shinbashi and made us search for what felt like forever for a tiny little bar called Kagaya, and goddamn we were glad they did. What followed was beyond explanation; equal parts hilarious, offensive, ridiculous, sweet, awkward, and shocking. Kind of like an adult themed puppet show on drugs. For more information check out this blog post by Timeout: http://blogs.timeout.jp/en/2014/07/17/what-happens-in-kagaya-stays-in-kagaya/

[stephaline-blog]

Day 1: Australia to Tokyo

1. The worst part of going to Japan was saying goodbye to the apple in our eye, baby Myf. We missed her in ways we didn’t know we could. 

2. Our touring mad crew, the Japansters! Also known as #sowet. 

3. Michael's first brewski! Yeahhhh boiiii 

4. One of about 3 wines I consumed the entire time. I quickly learnt how much better Japanese beer is. 

5. Is the best part of our Airbnb this minion? I think it is. 

6-8. Our first 24 hours in Shinjuku was pretty overwhelming. Soon as we exited the train station our senses felt pretty infiltrated by it all, but I also fell quite instantly in love. Get used to a lot of photos like these ones...

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15 DAYS IN JAPAN

Hiiiieeeeeee

I am depressed due to the fact that 18 hrs ago I was still in Japan and now I am in Brisbane again and will be here for 18 hours times a billion. 

I’m going to post photos and descriptions for each day I was in Japan.  

Please enjoy. 

[emmyc]

f r e n s

[unclefather]

[christmasonthemoon]

listening_to_yeezus.mp4

[nckptmn]

i can’t stop watching this

[stephaline-blog]

Me every day

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Our beautiful last day in Rome. 1. The insane metro! Today was a holiday for Italians (la befana?) and not only was there a huge parade but Papa Francesco was making an address which meant that everyone wanted to get to the city from termini at the same time. No one seemed to grasp that to get on you need to let people off, so it was a pretty dangerous wait to get on- probably the most nervous I've felt all trip! 2-3. The crowd around the Vatican and the parade. We were trying to get across the street to find the national museum of sanitary arts which ended up being closed. :( 4. It was a beautiful sunny day and we are sad that it's all over!!!! 5. The hat joke has it's last hurrah 6. Piazza del Popolo 7-9. The view of the piazza heading up to the borghese garden 10. Borghese gardens. A lovely finish to a long eventful trip! Now we're back in Australia depressed broke and bored with life again, ready to plan the next trip! It's been a journey, tumblr!!!!