Autumn colours in Japan + coughtails by the pool in Fiji

[Drakecula]

And the first proper autumn colours for the trip!

 

[trendwhore]

Oh yeah you learn very quickly if your shoes are up to the task, great photos !

 

[Wanderlust_tim]

Along the way we found an amazing Evangelion backpack that MrD fell in love with. (We bought it on our way back to the hotel)

Would love a photo of the bag if you get a chance, I have a massive soft spot for Evangelion.

 

[Matt_01]

Another huge day, my feet are certainly telling me so.

We started in Shibuya, .....

We then walked to Harajuku ..... View attachment 416005

In our experience it is always mad. Prior to MissM even being a thought and subsequent trips we (MrsM&I) have avoided this street like the plague. Our first adventure was this year with MissM who is now 17 and I am on her right. The back streets on the other side are more interesting.

 

[Drakecula]

Would love a photo of the bag if you get a chance, I have a massive soft spot for Evangelion.

The lighting inside wasn't the greatest but I adjusted the photo to give the colours a bit more oomph so you can tell what they are.
There was also a messenger bag option.

 

[Wanderlust_tim]

The lighting inside wasn't the greatest but I adjusted the photo to give the colours a bit more oomph so you can tell what they are.
There was also a messenger bag option.

View attachment 416120

Oh that is very cool, thank you. I can see why you went back and got it!

 

[Drakecula]

Realised I forgot to mention our hotel for Nagano. I did look for Dormy Inn, but given the fireworks festival, it was understandably booked out. So instead I found Hotel Abest Naganoekimae. It's literally across the road from the station and there's a Family Mart downstairs.

It's a bit (a lot?) older and the room and bathroom are small. But not bad considering Japanese hotel rooms do tend to the small side. The walls seem thin too, as we could hear others in the room next to us. And the staff were welcoming, there's lots of complimentary amenities, including a shampoo bar where you can borrow a big bottle to try. A nice touch if you've always wanted to try a particular brand I guess.

One downside to our room, is that we face the crossing to the station, and so we hear the jaunty 'it's time to cross the street' tune every few minutes. But it's not so loud to disrupt sleep.

So some pros and cons, but for a couple of nights, totally fine.

 

[rbjhan]

Oh yes I had lots of Shinshu apple juice around Nagano...delicious!

 

[Matt_01]

Realised I forgot to mention our hotel for Nagano. I did look for Dormy Inn, but given the fireworks festival, it was understandably booked out. So instead I found Hotel Abest Naganoekimae. It's literally across the road from the station and there's a Family Mart downstairs.

It's a bit (a lot?) older and the room and bathroom are small. But not bad considering Japanese hotel rooms do tend to the small side. The walls seem thin too, as we could hear others in the room next to us. And the staff were welcoming, there's lots of complimentary amenities, including a shampoo bar where you can borrow a big bottle to try. A nice touch if you've always wanted to try a particular brand I guess.

One downside to our room, is that we face the crossing to the station, and so we hear the jaunty 'it's time to cross the street' tune every few minutes. But it's not so loud to disrupt sleep.

So some pros and cons, but for a couple of nights, totally fine.

We know that hotel and had stayed their in April this year. Your review was a bit kinder than mine. Below is what I mentioned in a previous TR.

Ok so I will mention the hotel very quickly, it wasn’t that flash, taps leaked and the air conditioning was just hot and even if if it was off the room was just hot. I ending up opening the window and every few minutes I got the predestination crossing sounds. When MrsM emerged she did not have a nice thing to say about it and said it is the worse accommodation she has stayed in. I doubt we will never stay there again.

 

[Drakecula]

Yes, I guess I'm being kind. But it's clean at least? Definitely agree on the air con, it only seems to blow hot air, but our window doesn't open so that didn't help us.

I've stayed in worse places so maybe my sense of terrible is skewed. I'm likely to choose a different hotel if I ever came back to Nagano, but if my options were limited like they were this time, this place would be okay for a repeat stay.

Will post some photos from today's adventures tomorrow!

 

[Drakecula]

Our visit to the snow monkey park was amazing! The guide spun a tale about how back in the day the monkeys were a nuisance to an onsen so they funnelled hot spring water into the mountains so the monkeys could bathe away from the onsen for humans.

I don't know if that's true, but it's a good story at least.

I wasn't expecting snow for this trip as it's too early, but we got a flurry while we were there which was icing (pun intended) on the cake. You can tell more monkeys got in the water once the snow arrived, it got considerably colder!

The monkeys were so not fussed by humans. They walked right past us. One little monkey got curious and reached out and touched my jacket, glad MrD caught that on camera.

After the monkey park we had lunch at the tour restaurant which was delicious. Then we went to the annual Nagano fireworks festival. Which was great, but I reckon Canberra's Skyfire is better.

 

[rbjhan]

In terms of Japanese business hotels, always the newer the better.
Regarding Nagano, I think that would be Dormy Inn and Sotetsu Fresa...

But I highly recommend a Shukubo stay!

 

[Drakecula]

This morning we left Nagano for Kanazawa, and the Dormy Inn is right by the station so we were able to drop our bags off easily. We then found the loop bus stop to head over to the Nishi-Chaya district. We wanted to see the weapons museum.

The loop bus was great, it uses IC cards so we could use our Suica cards to tap on/off. There was a stand of brochures with maps and information about the bus which was handy.

After the museum and some wandering past temples, we walked to Kenrokuen Garden, getting some yummy curry for lunch. The garden was amazing! Very autumn. We saw quite a few people dressed in kimono and realised a couple was having wedding photos. Great place for wedding photos I reckon!

We then wandered over to the Kanazawa Castle park, stopping for the obligatory gold leaf ice cream.

After more wandering we headed to the bus stop to come back to the station. As we arrived some buses appeared, one of which had JR on the side and destination Kanazawa station. Great, must be the loop bus I thought. Once we were on I didn't think it was, but it was going our way so lucky us.

And so now we are just about to find some dinner and then we'll try the be baths here before bed.

 

[Drakecula]

More pics from today! The last one is the station. Looked really cool lit up.

 

[Drakecula]

I think I'm a day behind. So yesterday we explored a bit more of Kanazawa, by visiting the Higashi Chaya district. It was really cool seeing the older buildings. We also visited the gold leaf museum which was quite interesting.

We then popped over to see the Nomura residence, an older style samurai family house. (I think?) It was really neat, and had a great garden!

Then off to Osaka in the afternoon, which will be a very quick stop as our only destination is Universal!

 

[Drakecula]

Today was Universal Studios. We really wanted to see Nintendo World, with the Wizarding World a close second. I wasn't as excited about the latter, despite being a big HP fan, but we'd been before in Orlando.

We got up early as I'd read that they open the gates early sometimes and we wanted to make sure we could get to Nintendo World without having to wait for timed entry. Park timings today said from 9am. We got there not too long after 7 and they opened the gates around 8.

We had a ball in Nintendo World, then enjoyed the Wizarding World, and then the rain came. Thankfully we weren't fussed by the rest of the park, but we were curious, so did a quick walk around to see everything. Getting absolutely wet in the process. We did watch two shows, one based on Waterworld which was really cool, despite not understanding what was being said. Lots of action! The other was a Universal monsters rock and roll show, featuring Beetlejuice.

Such a big day! I'm exhausted. And we're now hoping all the wet things will dry enough to pack okay as we're off to Kyoto tomorrow.

 

[Drakecula]

We left Osaka for Kyoto today and checked out some temples and gorgeous autumn colours. First one was Sanjūsangendō Temple which houses 1000 statues of Buddha. We couldn't take photos inside, but I found an image online, it was just amazing. Each Buddha has a different name and slightly different features.

Second was Tofuku-ji temple which has the oldest sanmon gate in Japan. The gate was listed as a national treasure back in 1897!

We then checked in to our more traditional style hotel, Kyoto Takasegawa Bettei. There's tatami flooring, so it's shoes off at the front door of the hotel and switch to sandals. The bath is amazing, made of cypress, perfect for soaking in.

 

[Drakecula]

A short update while we wait for our shabu shabu broth to warm up...

I forgot how crowded and uncomfortable Kyoto buses can be.

Kyoto clearly has it in for me, I had to go hunt for some hayfever meds. Fingers crossed they kick in tomorrow once I've had a couple more.

But the maple trees and leaves are absolutely gorgeous. We and a gazillion other people clearly think so. It's been a busy day!

 

[Drakecula]

More temples and more beautiful maple trees with wonderful colours. And wonderful tourists to share the beauty with... Haha. Can't complain really, we're all doing the same thing.

We started at Shinnyodo temple, then wandered down the Philosopher's Path to Eikando temple and Nanzen-ji.

And yes the local buses are packed!! Like sardines, which can be quite uncomfortable and awkward trying to navigate getting on or off, or while people squeeze past at other stops. I'd forgotten that from our last visit to Kyoto. Oh well, we survived.

We also popped into a samurai museum which was a bit cheesy as we got to dress up as samurai at the end, but was quite informative overall. I've learned a bit of samurai history on this visit now and I'm slightly more tempted to watch some movies set in that period. Not sure I could stomach Tom Cruise as the Last Samurai though...