Travelling alone

The tour was for 14 days but I arrived in Tokyo 2 days b4 and stayed an extra 2 days after the tour. Only skim the surface - some days we started at 5 am and toured till midnight.. enjoyed every minute of it..

Did not walk the full length of Fushimi Inari Temple Tori gates but was there @ 5 am and it was somethin! Saw Nagano for the monkeys even tho it was not winter. Bonus on Miyajima Island as it was the night of the "boat" festival - these were homemade "boats" which they placed in the sea and if one of the boats made it through the Tori Gate, it meant good luck for the community for two years.. loved Takayama...
 
I didn't do the full round of the gates either, but then I didn't get there at 5am :D (and went to the Tenryu-ji temple on the same day).

I like Takayama too. Went to their Spring festival last time, and that was fun - except for the crowds. It's also a good base for visiting the Alps, although Oct/Nov is a little late to be heading up there. Loved the Alps. Camped a couple of nights at Kamikochi and froze my @rse off at night (beautiful days though).

GP
 
Fushimi Inari is part of philosphers walk (different variations to the name). Very easy to spend just a few days in this area alone without going anywhere else in Kyoto. Normally hire abike for 3 days and just explore as it is so easy to get around. Did you see the Pagoda in Toji temple?
 
Did you see the Pagoda in Toji temple?
Not sure if you're talking to me or Pelican3, but you mean this one (attached)? Didn't get up close, as we didn't want to pay to go in there, but got a good look around the rest of the temple.

My wife and I went to the Toji temple on our last day there, as the monthly market was on. Not such a great idea really, as the market didn't hold much interest but it meant the temple was crowded.

GP
 

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It was for both of you.

Been a few years since I have done some serious trips around Kyoto and some of it has changed a fair bit by the reports I see. Lucky me normally doesn't have to pay when visiting places but the times are a changing.
 
Hi. I'm in Chengdu now. Went to the Giant Panda centre today. They are SSOOO cute. Saw the sun for a little while today and getting used to the cold.
the food is amazing. Every area has its own specialty. I feel like all I do is eat and drink tea. We had a 25 hour train trip. That was fun (NOT).

Y33 Tokyo is on my list. My son went there last year then went back again. He raves about it and I did think of going there this time. I'll definately give you a yell when I go.

I had difficulty finding an internet. It's upstairs and if I hadn't had internet cafe written in Chinese I never would have found it. There are 70 computers with everyone playing games and no-one speks English so I don't know howe much it will cost but I'm sure not much. We have been having amazing meals,ordering 5 or so dishes with rice anbd sharing (6 people) and it's costing about $5-6 each.

Ok off to eat again.
 
TB, when in doubt just write it in Chinese character as most of the older gen can still read and use it. Only spend about 10% of my time in Tokyo and rest travelling around west Japan. You can get the ferry from Busan (Korea) to Fukuoka (Japan) about 3 hours and do a day or overnight stay in Japan for less than $200. Make sure you get some HOTO it is a cross between a donut and a pancake with syrup in the middle for about 500 won. normally sold at street stalls and maybe some shops.
 
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