TravelStream™ news feed for member thephibbles on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/thephibbles en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:04:11 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thephibbles/10/1238171400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thephibbles/10/1238171400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thephibbles/10/1238171400/tpod.html Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:04:11 -0400 Rising Sun 09

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Tokyo, Japan

Some pics from our last day in Tokyo, shopping for souvenirs and experiencing Hanami (cherry blossom festival)in Ueno Park. Paul managed to fit in a few shots of saki
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Hiroshima, Japan

On Tuesday evening we arrived into Hiroshima station and found our tram stop to bring us to the hotel. Was quite late at this stage so decided to go for a walk up to the A-Bomb dome site. This was one of the few buildings that survived the atomic bomb and was kept by the city as a reminder of the devastation that was caused. We then found the best Irish pub outside of Ireland with a bar man from Cork. Seems like we were forever going to Irish pubs unlike other holidays but they were the only places you could get a late night drink!

Bright and early the next morning, we passed the a-dome again on the way into the memorial park and finally to the museum. The scale of the devastation that was caused is overwhelming, the museum and park were both fantastic but very sobering. The whole city and surrounds were flattened by the bomb and over 200,000 people died with many more suffering from the effects of radiation, heartbreaking story about a little boy called Shin who was out cycling his tricycle in his backyard when the bomb struck, the little tricycle is on display in the museum ( photo ) - if there is ever a place to go to see the futility of war, then Hiroshima is the place but saying that the city is now one of the most vibrant and laid back places we were in Japan. The people were fantastic and the city really beautiful.

In the afternoon, we caught a train to a port about 30 minutes from the city to get a ferry over to Miyajama which is an island off the coast. On the ferry over, you are able to view one of the most photographed sites in Japan which is a floating tori, on the day we went though it was low tide so we were able to walk over to it. The island is over-run with deer, they are everywhere, quite tame but we were told not to eat anything on the street for fear of a stampede. We spent the afternoon wondering around the island lots of shops and cafes and the world's largest spatula!

Off to the pub again for the evening. Our trip to Hiroshima was over all too soon, great city would have loved to have stayed longer but back to Tokyo on Thursday for our last day.

Lisa and Paul
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Himeji, Japan

On Tuesday morning we left Kyoto to go to Hiroshima, on the way we made a stop at Himeji to see the castle which is widely considered as Japan's most spectacular castle. Unlike many other Japanese castles, Himeji Castle was never destroyed in wars, earthquakes or fires and survives in its original form. It is a Unesco Heritage site. Six walls and a moat protect it and then it is on a hill and 6 storeys high. Lots of climbing and being Japan you have to take your shoes off and wear very fashionable slippers!

Took about three hours to get around it and the gardens attached. We had our suitcases with us so a scramble for the lockers at the train station trying to beat Americans with huge amounts of luggage!

Got back on the train about five and arrived in Hiroshima at six.

Will update soon from there

Lisa and Paul
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osaka, Japan

On Monday we took the bullet train from Kyoto to Osaka to go to a sumo tournament. The tournament starts are 8.30am in the morning and goes on until 6.30pm with the "big boys" on from about four, suffice to say we did not arrive until about two.

Great fun, Japanese people certainly take it very seriously. They bring picnics with them and the venue sells beer and ice-cream so we were very happy whiling away a couple of hours. One thing we were both surprised at is how agile the sumo's are! In the time we were there we saw about 40 bouts, including the best wrestler at the moment who is actually Mongolian.

Really enjoyed it - have now decided we are into fat people sports - Darts and Sumo!

Chat soon,
Lisa and Paul
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Kyoto, Japan

On Friday we caught the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto, 540 kms away and only took a little over two hours. Kyoto is a much smaller city than Tokyo, 1.3 million as opposed to 34 million! Found the hotel very easily. The rail and subway system is really easy to navigate, although the stations are huge they are well signposted in English. Kyoto is famous for its world heritage sites and Geisha's! The first evening we took a walk through the food market across the river to Gion which is the best site in Japan for trying to get a glimpse of a geisha. It is an area of traditional Japanese geisha houses and if you get there about six in the evening you have the best chance of spotting one. Luckily we got to see about seven, heading out for their night's work. Head down and shuffling along the street into waiting cars. Definitely no posing for photos or looking at anyone in the eye! Some nights you could be there hours and not get to see any. (see photos)

The following day we got a bus pass ;-) Quite interesting finding bus stops and getting on and off local buses to the shrines and temples. Kyoto has over 2000 temples, thank goodness Paul agreed that we could visit 3 but the 3 he wanted to visit were in different parts of the city... lots of buses and lots of walking! Well worth it though the temples were amazing and all surrounded by fantastic zen gardens perfectly manicured.

We went to the Manga museum on Sunday, the comic books are everywhere in Japan - business men on the train are reading copies, it is the largest collection in Japan over 300,000.

Kyoto is meant to be one of the foodie cities in Japan for Japanese food! Octopus balls, chicken livers, pigs ears - need I say more! For Lisa's birthday we found an Irish pub and had a meat pie and baked potato (fantastic ;-)

Off to a sumo tournament on Monday in Osaka!

Chat soon




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Tokyo, Japan

On Thursday which was our last day in Tokyo before heading for Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima. We decided to explore some of the neighbourhoods we had not got to yet. First stop was Ebisu, which is a suburb that reminded us of New York. Lots of restaurants, wide streets and a general laid back vibe. We picked out a mexican restaurant to eat in the evening which was housed in what looked like an old tin shack. We also visited the museum of photography. We then headed to the Ginza district where the Sony Building is located. You can see and have a play with all the latest technology in development. Finally we headed back to Shinjuku to take a walk around the Golden Gai which is a series of tiny lanes that have tiny pubs (5 seats in each) most are totally Japaneses and Westerners are not allowed in! It also happened to be in Tokyo's red light district which was very interesting!!

The meal was great, really crazy place. Lots of Japaneses very drunk and generally going mad. We saw one guy in particular who downed most of a bottle of tequila, danced like crazy for about 10 minutes and then passed out on the floor. The waiters as usual in Japan are so polite that they kept picking him up putting him back on a chair for him to fall off again into the floor. This happened numerous times before we left ( great entertainment!)

Also posted pics of toilets and vending machines... the toilets are brilliant - warm toilet seat, flushing sound button for those who are shy and don't want to be heard, bidet button, music button and shower button ( don't ask about that one! ) Also vending machines everywhere huge lines of them on every street where you can buy drinks, food, coffee, cameras and even saw one selling mens ties.

Off on the bullet train to Kyoto last Friday will update from there soon.

Lisa and Paul
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thephibbles/10/1237412580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thephibbles/10/1237412580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thephibbles/10/1237412580/tpod.html Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:54:43 -0400 Rising Sun 09

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hakone, Japan

On Wednesday we took a day trip out of Tokyo to Hakone a village in the mountains where you can get views of Mount Fugi. The bullet train we took from Tokyo to Odawara, the starting point for the mountains was fantastic, in Japan you could definitely become a train spotter! They are unreal, incredibly comfortable and clean, before you get on an army of cleaners enter all of the 16 huge carriages and take about 5 minutes to clean every nook and cranny - Irish rail would have a lot to learn. They reach speeds of up to 280 kms per hour but from inside the carriage you would not feel the speed unless you are standing on a station platform and one passes you! (see video)

From Odawara, you take a local train to Hakone and then take a switchback train, a funicular, two cable cars ( very scary for Lisa as we went on a really windy day and went as high as 2,300 metres - didn't help the vertigo ) and a pirate ship across a lake before getting on a bus back to Hakone for the journey back!

Really good day, we were lucky that we got a clear day so we could see Mount Fugi covered in snow. The weather since we arrived has been really good, about 20c every day. And to top it all of got tickets for U2 in Croke Park on the web in the pre-sale.

Will update soon,

Lisa and Paul
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tokyo, Japan

Konichiwa from Tokyo after a very very long flight we finally touched down at Narita airport. The airport happens to be about 80 kms from the centre of Tokyo but considering the size of Tokyo it feels you are just in the suburbs. Easy to find the train station and get our Japan rail pass which gives us unlimited travel on all trains throughout Japan. Train into the centre took an hour and then found ourselves in the busiest train station in the world - Shinjuku. All signs are in Japanese and English so as long as you know what exit you want it's pretty straight forward. However there are over 300 exits so thank goodness we did a bit of preparation work. As it was so early on Sunday morning our room was not ready which left us wandering the streets in a comotosed state. When we finally got the room we decided to sleep for an hour which turned into sixteen so didn't see daylight again until Monday!

Hotel is great, tiny room but it's Tokyo! Has everything in it - the usuals kettle, toiletries, etc and also a nightshirt, ( you will see a very fetching photo of Paul ), chopsticks, inkpad and wheelchair if you request it.
Heading out around Tokyo on the subway, must be the biggest in the world, the amount of lines is unreal we are lucky being on the Yamanote line which basically circles the city and most of the stuff we wanted to see is off this line. Will let the photos tell you where we we ended up, suffice to say we walked for miles and miles ( blisters on blisters ) at the end of most days.

Japaneses people are incredibly mannerly, just getting used to the fact that we need to bow all the time - in shops, restaurants, lifts etc. Another thing we learned is not to tip after meals, we left money on the table the first night and the manager and waitress ran out of the restaurant after us to give it back to us. We insisted they kept it and they stayed waving and bowing outside the restaurant until we turned the next corner. Feels very safe here, people are out 24 hours a day although they certainly can not drink, 2 beers and there are people passed out!

Had a great Paddy's night in the Dubliner, lots of Japaneses with green hair, Irish dancing and drinking green beer.
Will update again soon,
Lisa and Paul


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Reykjavík, Iceland

Some pics from our trip to Iceland including Reykjavik, the Golden Circle and the Blue Lagoon ...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thephibbles/8/1218038040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thephibbles/8/1218038040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/thephibbles/8/1218038040/tpod.html Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:57:30 -0400 Killarney

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Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland

Pictures of a beautiful August Bank holiday weekend in Killarney
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