Wish You Wok Here

Today was a little later to start after a late evening on the roof for the 5 of us (we were minus Paul last night after yet another 15 hour sleep). We had decided we would go to asahiyama to see the monkeys in the mountains and the famous bamboo forest. Once we arrived via our favourite transport, we had a short walk to the base of the mountain that needed to be climbed to see the monkeys. We decided to split into 2 groups, Paul, Anya and Colin would be taking the near vertical climb, being the monkey lovers of the group. Whilst Zak, Jazz and I decided we didn't fancy being attacked by monkeys so we'd have a wander along to see 'the GREATest view of kyoto'. We walked along a stunning river and decided to be top Instagram models and get all the best angles from every point along the river. After we had worn the camera out we met back up with the others who managed to keep all digits and bags attached. We then decided to split again but into different sets this time, Zoli...

This blog begins immediately after where the last one ends...Me, Zak, Sam and Jazz embraced an old tradition of karaoke. For the first time Zaks minimal Japanese didn't get us through and we ended up with an unlimited premier drinks package and a session 3 times longer than we planned.  After a few technical issues we got underway. During renditions of Eminem, George Ezra, Hanson and Backstreet Boys...the machines all written in Japanese provided some challenges and drinks were ordered to the booth. Sam managed to get to the soft drinks page and a lime and soda was delivered. My first sip and I suspected something wasn't as usual...the new taste was vodka - after 38 years and 10 months I've finally tasted alcohol...it's rank...I don't know what the fuss is about.  Due to this our morning began a later for the group than planned and a sore head for me. We had planned over curry (Ka-ray in Japanese) that we would visit Fushimi Inari Taisha in the morning and the famou...

This morning we all woke up quite a bit later than previously, I’m still not sure if Paul was sleeping or in a coma as he was out for a good 15 hours - this is the same guy that stated ; “ Jet lag does not exist!” .  Soon after some leftover pizza breakfast we all parted ways for the first time since take off. Samantha, Zak , Colin and Jazz embarked on their journey to Toji Temple where they took part in traditional Japanese worship. Meanwhile, myself and Paul where headed to the city side of Kyoto, we stopped at the Nishiki Market and sampled some delicious strawberry desserts on sticks , stopped ourselves from purchasing the whole of Pokémon Centre and soon later met some real life Pokémon’s in the otter cafe back at Nishiki Market. Our furry friends put on a mesmerising swim show and climbed on our shoulders for a selfie whilst eating from our hands.  Back at Toji Temple , the guys were intruded by another group of tourists awkwardly glamourising the worship for Instagram ,...

They say the sun rises in the east...well it just beats us by a few minutes this morning. After spending a night in a traditional Japanese house, with floor beds and kimonos we were up and out to visit some Buddhist shrines. Anya is now an honorary Buddhist monk after receiving the blessings of 10 dragons.  A few insta poses with the water shrine later the adventure continued to an amazing garden...where Sam broke us all in. After a quick game of hide and seek we headed back to the house.  Noodles, pizza and curry for breakfast before heading to the port to be pirates for the day. As the stars we are we obviously sailed First class across Lake Ashi... It was a cloudy day so what little hope we had of sneaking a peak of Mount Fuji had all but gone...but the spirits remained ready to embrace the voyage to the unknown....40 minutes later we disembarked and followed the crowd.  No idea what to expect we saw people queuing for a cable car...with a money back guarantee influenc...

Well tonight marks our thirty seventh day in Tokyo (I think) if it's not, something has gone awry, we've been here forever! Weather forcast: wet and overcast, turning into intermittent sun and mugginess Planned activities: Achiabara, Imperial Palace, Collect Wifi Completed activities: Achiabara, Collect Wifi (wahoooooo) Today's theme: Trains As the sun rose early, the same couldn't be said for the heavy clouds over the city. We packed our belongings and headed out to start our day, we arrived at a new train station, after a lengthy walk and made our way to Shinjuku to leave our bags for our trip around the city. Achiaraba our first stop, after a 20 minute train journey.  Achiabara is known by many as "Geek City", a place where anime and porn become one, and they do so right on the main streets! The street gave off Scarborough on a Saturday afternoon vibes: claw machines, arcades, trinket shops and dildos. Well... that last bit might be slightly different to Sc...

Today's first blog post actually starts last night, when we ventured into Shinjuku to visit the famed Golden Gai, an area with pubs that seat up to 10 people. This meant there wasn't much room in any of them but there were hundreds of them! We trailed the alleys in the rainy streets to find a suitable place to spend our cash and stumbled upon a whiskey joint. It could accomodate all of us so we went in, 700¥ the entry charge, after all, we are all frequent whiskey drinkers (right?). We settled in quickly and the drinks flowed just as fast. Zak practiced his Japanese with the owner, he was confident and tried hard but there's only so many times you can tell him that your sister isn't six years old... Colin quickly met a new family and spent the evening with Ben and Francesca from Washington DC and, later, Scott from the Scottish Highlands. When he returned to his root family, we were three drinks and a Sake in, loud, well on our merry way and in very high spirits. We wav...