Sakura Season

Just recently it was Sakura season here in Kyoto and Japan in general I guess. The Japanese love this season and everywhere you go there are stalls that sell food and people sitting under the trees drinking alcohol, chatting and eating. What is even better that it is perfectly acceptable to join someone else's group if you bring some food or drink to share around. The trees are usually only in full bloom for about 10 days. I went during the middle of the day and so did not take part in any alcohol-related activities on this specific day ^_^

Perfect Weather for Sakura Viewing

The entrance

Food stalls!

Marica and I...

... we also shared some sakura flavoured water. Very salty! It was like drinking sea water but still surprisingly delicious. The sakura blossom was also edible

TGIFs

Thank God It's Friday

Packing my bags and heading to Tokyo in 3 hours. It is about time to meet up with my Cardiff buddys since it has been a while. Also I don't think i will see them again before heading back to the UK unless they come for a visit later in the year.

Oh, and to celebrate that is it Friday here is a picture of the beast of a burger that TGIF serve here in Kyoto

Kobe Beef

Kobe Beef - 2 person steak

After having had the succulent, delicious dish that is Kobe Beef I never want to eat again! Just feed me vitamin enhanced fluids through an IV tube please, I don't want to forget that taste haha. Why people who have money wouldn't want to eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner I have no idea. Nothing I have ever had can compare to this and to put it in comparison, even the 100% fat of the steak was better tasting than most things I have eaten in my entire life. Everyone coming to Japan and especially Kobe should give this a chance.

Anticipation!!!

Our private chef

The first serving

The damage done to Ek's wallet. Thanks so much for paying for it =)

Sumo

I have never been a big fan of Sumo. Sure enough, I'd watch it on TV now and again both in Q09 in Cardiff and with my Dad back home in Sweden. However, being at a tournament is an amazing experience and I didn't think that I would enjoy it as much as I did. We watched mastodon sized humans fight each other for over 4 hours while sitting on the floor with our legs crossed. That has got to be a record of some sort! We arrived at around 11am and got the general admission tickets that allowed you to sit anywhere until someone with that actual seat ticket turns up and politely asks you to leave. We sat ringside for all of the 4 hours and until the 2nd highest ranking fighters came out. Then we decided to leave the stadium to explore the rest of Osaka. If you can, GO TO SUMO! It is worth it.

Who is gonna go down first?

Timbers!

2 Titans collide

Ringside seats

2nd ranked sumo

Tokyo Shenanigans

Odaiba has to be one of my favourite places in Tokyo to visit. Click here for a picture of Odaiba in behind the bridge . It is a man made island and it had been heavily developed into residential areas and office buildings since the 1990s. Despite this, there is a lot of greenery and trees and parks which is something that I miss when touristing around in Tokyo.

At Odaiba Toyota has an expo building showing off their current products and future ones. That is where I got to ride this bad boy. It maintains balance by itself and you speed up or slow down by leaning forward or backwards. It looked easy when the woman was explaining it (in Japanese -_____- ) so after convincing them that I had sufficient understanding of Japanese to follow instructions I was allowed to test it. Do I have to say it wasn't as easy riding it as she showed haha Top speed was only about 8km/h so there was no chance I'd kill myself while on it

Odaiba is so advanced that there is no need to take the metro to get here. All you need to do is get on or off at "Tokyo Teleport Station". Maybe someday it will actually teleport me so I don't have to ride the monorail

A couple of Coronas came walking down the street in Harajuku. It made me really thirsty so I think the marketing technique worked

Ek comes to town

During the last 3 weeks or so of my winter holiday Ek came from Sweden to visit. I'm glad that he came to visit and it was much more fun sightseeing some more unusual places, other than just temples in Kyoto. His visit included Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Tokyo and Hakone (a place close to Mt. Fuji and that has volcanic activity below the surface).

At the top of Arashiyama overlooking Kyoto, the monkeys liked us until I accidentally kicked one =(

Ueno Park, Tokyo
Street Performers

Hakone (about 2 hours away from Tokyo)
Mt. Fuji seen from the Gondola
It smelt like Rotorua, but it was prettier
By eating this egg boiled in the water coming from underground I apparently increased my lifespan by 7 years, got good fortune and luck with romance.
We were high up, but Fuji was at least twice as high. It looks cold but it was in fact about 10+C,
Mount Fuji again. Epic view
Swiss style Gondola and Hakone Lake

Paradise!

Hahei = Paradise

Sea Adventures

My cousin and I decided that we would do something more adventures than hangout on the beach so we climbed up Pah Hill at Hahei beach on the Coromandel Peninsula (gorgeous beach by the way). Then we decided to lower ourselves down onto the rocks below. It was so steep that it was almost vertical. Without a rope I doubt we would have gotten back up, because you can always go down, by falling face first haha
Once at the bottom we had to precariously climb the rocks. Luckily for us there were many nooks and cranys that we could stick our fingers into and put our feet on. What an exhilarating feeling to climb rock faces with nothing under you but the ferocious water! I doubt we were in any real danger since we did take it slow and there was no wind about.
My cousin managed to frame me quite well in this picture. I'm just coming up onto the ledge the looks down onto the swell of the ocean and the waves upon the rocks. It caused this awesome whirlpool effect to. The ocean was so blue but clear at the same time and we saw heaps of fish. We even saw 1m long kingfish and decided to come back to the same spot tomorrow to try our luck with the fishing rods. The climb down and up with the rods strapped to our backs was no easy feat.
The weather was fantastic and so warm. We did contemplate leaping off the rocks into the water but after seeing a stingray and something much larger than a fish we changed our minds. Also, with the tide coming in we did not want to get trapped on the rocks just because we wanted to have a swim.

The water was so amazing though. It had a strange attraction to it but then the stingray and the larger shadow had the same sense of awe but the opposite since it just made us want to stay dry. I did catch a fish here on the 2nd day but it was a 10cm snapper and so I decided to throw it back. Ill come back for it in 2 years time =)

Memories

Since I left NZ when I was 13 I do have a few memories of the time I spent there. Many of my memories are of the places I visited the most and my family. I decided to go and visit the 2 houses that I used to live in but regrettably I think that it ruined some of the fond memories I had as the places had changed for the worse. Alas, nothing lasts forever but times were good when I lived there.

My first house

Old Lawrence Cres. The trees sure had grown!

Happy childhood memories

"The Land of The Long White Cloud" welcomed me back

2001 was the last time I set foot on the soil of what I used to call home it was time for a visit to see friends, family and places that I once knew. 9 years is a long time and things have changed a lot but many parts of NZ I still recognised. I spent 14 days there and had a blast. Can not wait to go back!

Auckland SkyTower, biggest building in the Southern Hemisphere
View of Auckland from "One Tree Hill" which ironically now does not have a single tree left on it after it got attacked by a large man wielding an axe =(

View from the harbour - It has turned into a beautiful skyline

Auckland Blues vs Wellington Hurricanes.
It was the first game of the season and the match ball was delivered in person by Michael Jones

Almost Try time but it was thwarted

My high school and the sporting grounds

Camera

While at Yokohama I tested out my camera by shooting a picture directly into sunlight. It gave this awesome effect on the buildings and since the sun was just coming past the buildings I got the streaks of light too. Unfortunately after this I realised that my lens was slightly dirty and caused a "blob" of light to appear in the middle of the image.

Yokohama

Yokohama is a beautiful city, especially down by the harbour area. There is a lot of touristy things such as museums and boats that will take you on a tour but it is pleasant just for walking. I can really see it as a romantic spot at night during the summer. If you get the time a visit to Yokohama and T.G.I Fridays is heavily recommended.

The Harbour and Amusement Park

The tour boat

Coastguard museum and vessel