Japan
As I said in my last entry, we went to Japan and by the way, if you go there, get the JR Railpass.
Tokyo
First we went to Tokyo, which is an aswome place. It is very busy all of the times, but manageble to get around pretty fast, despite some people claiming transportation takes forever (they have never been in Seoul). We were living in a hostel in Asakusa, which is one of the cheaper places, in terms of money, but a nice quarter. They have a nice temple there and the biggest paper lantern I have ever seen.
Other than that, we have been to Akihabara and a Maidcafe, the Robot Restaurant (which I really recommend, if you like crazy random stuff), Yoyogi Park, the Emporers Palace (which is closed on Mondays), some places around Shinjuku and much more stuff... If any of you is going to Tokyo, either make it an extended trip or really narrow it down :-D
Fuji
We tried to get to Mount Fuji (or Fuji-san, how the japanese say). There are several different ways to get there, the easiest one is the JR Rail which goes there, but there is also a JR Bus which goes there (I think from Shinjuku). The problem we had was, that It was really foggy that day, that you could not see the vulcano/mountain at all. Which is sad, because there is a bus going the the "Fifth Station" which is on around 3000 meters, so pretty near to the top.
Instead we took the tourist bus around the area and went into different magma caves, one was a batcave and one was an ice cave, both very nice. They also have a lot of natural hot springs around, so it is to recommend to take a bath there.
Kyoto
Kyoto is the old emperial capitiol, so naturally it has a lot of temples and palaces to look at. What I recommend is the Kiyomizudera temple and the Golden Pavillion, both awsome and beautiful structures. Also there is a guided english tour everyday at 14.00 (you have to get a ticket at least 20 minutes ahead) in the old emporers palace. What we missed in Kyoto are the thousand gates up the mountain trail, but one can not do everything.
Also Kyoto has one of the biggest Geisha districts in Japan (they call them Geiko in Kyoto). There is also a guided tour through Gion (one of the districts open to tourists), where you learn about Geiko and their history. In that district there is also a theatre which shows classical japanese arts, such as tea ceremony, puppet play, Geiko dance and much more.
Nara
Nara also used to be a emperial capitol, as I recollect. The nice part about it, is that it is pretty small, so you can easyly get around by foot (there are always busses ^.^). They have a park there were about more than 1000 tamed deer run around. They are very friendly and as it seems sometimes too friendly. The park is very good and to recommend is the largest wooden structure in the world the Toudai-Ji, a buddist temple which is absolutely amazing.
Hiroshima
Our last stop was Hiroshima, and there we had a full day to get into the horrible, but fascinating history of the Atombomb drop. They have a really good museum which shows the history and rebuilding of the city, which lifescale models and real exhibits. And NO there is no more radiation than every else in the world, due to the fact, that the bomb exploded in midair. There are also other attractions in this city, but that one is the most important to see.
After seeing all this things we returned to Korea for our last week. We won't do much, just the stuff we think we missed, such as the Seoul Tower, Carribean Bay and some other tourist stuff ^.^
I will update my pictures, when I get back to Austria, but I will keep you updated.
Tokyo
First we went to Tokyo, which is an aswome place. It is very busy all of the times, but manageble to get around pretty fast, despite some people claiming transportation takes forever (they have never been in Seoul). We were living in a hostel in Asakusa, which is one of the cheaper places, in terms of money, but a nice quarter. They have a nice temple there and the biggest paper lantern I have ever seen.
Other than that, we have been to Akihabara and a Maidcafe, the Robot Restaurant (which I really recommend, if you like crazy random stuff), Yoyogi Park, the Emporers Palace (which is closed on Mondays), some places around Shinjuku and much more stuff... If any of you is going to Tokyo, either make it an extended trip or really narrow it down :-D
Fuji
We tried to get to Mount Fuji (or Fuji-san, how the japanese say). There are several different ways to get there, the easiest one is the JR Rail which goes there, but there is also a JR Bus which goes there (I think from Shinjuku). The problem we had was, that It was really foggy that day, that you could not see the vulcano/mountain at all. Which is sad, because there is a bus going the the "Fifth Station" which is on around 3000 meters, so pretty near to the top.
Instead we took the tourist bus around the area and went into different magma caves, one was a batcave and one was an ice cave, both very nice. They also have a lot of natural hot springs around, so it is to recommend to take a bath there.
Kyoto
Kyoto is the old emperial capitiol, so naturally it has a lot of temples and palaces to look at. What I recommend is the Kiyomizudera temple and the Golden Pavillion, both awsome and beautiful structures. Also there is a guided english tour everyday at 14.00 (you have to get a ticket at least 20 minutes ahead) in the old emporers palace. What we missed in Kyoto are the thousand gates up the mountain trail, but one can not do everything.
Also Kyoto has one of the biggest Geisha districts in Japan (they call them Geiko in Kyoto). There is also a guided tour through Gion (one of the districts open to tourists), where you learn about Geiko and their history. In that district there is also a theatre which shows classical japanese arts, such as tea ceremony, puppet play, Geiko dance and much more.
Nara
Nara also used to be a emperial capitol, as I recollect. The nice part about it, is that it is pretty small, so you can easyly get around by foot (there are always busses ^.^). They have a park there were about more than 1000 tamed deer run around. They are very friendly and as it seems sometimes too friendly. The park is very good and to recommend is the largest wooden structure in the world the Toudai-Ji, a buddist temple which is absolutely amazing.
Hiroshima
Our last stop was Hiroshima, and there we had a full day to get into the horrible, but fascinating history of the Atombomb drop. They have a really good museum which shows the history and rebuilding of the city, which lifescale models and real exhibits. And NO there is no more radiation than every else in the world, due to the fact, that the bomb exploded in midair. There are also other attractions in this city, but that one is the most important to see.
After seeing all this things we returned to Korea for our last week. We won't do much, just the stuff we think we missed, such as the Seoul Tower, Carribean Bay and some other tourist stuff ^.^
I will update my pictures, when I get back to Austria, but I will keep you updated.
mohi - 6. Jul, 05:01
