Spring Break!

This Spring I traveled to Kyoto, Ise, Kobe and Naruto. It was quite a tiring journey as I did it in four days but I had an enjoyable time. I took the night bus to Kyoto so I arrived early in the morning and headed to the Toji (東寺) Temple flea market. This was a great market for many Japanese style items. I bought quite a few Kimono's, some lovely pottery and an excellent glass sake bottle. I also had a look around the temple which was very pretty.

Afterwards I decided to walk to Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺) via a quick stop at the lockers in Kyoto station to store all my goodies. I also walked through Gion and got a glimpse of a few Maiko, Geisha in training walking in the streets. 

This was my first time at Kiyomizu-dera and I really loved it. The views over the city scape of Kyoto were beautiful and the temple was very pretty. Unfortunately, I was still a bit too early for sakura but there were some plum blossoms. 

The next day, I went to Ise which was one of the main reasons for my trip. I wanted to see the Ise Katagami museum. Ise is particularly famous for Katagami, which is Japanese paper stencil cutting. The stencils are used in Katazome, Japanese dying. Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures but this is the website if you are interested, http://tourismmiejapan.com/search/spot.php?act=dtl&id=182.

In the afternoon I went to Ise-Jingu, the Grand Shrine. The shrine is rebuild every twenty years using traditional techniques and this year it will re-open. Therefore, I couldn't see much of the shrine but the grounds were very nice. There are two parts to Ise-jingu, Geku (outer shrine) and Naiku (inner shrine), but I only had time to visit Naiku.

I spent that evening in Kobe so that I could travel to Naruto the next morning. I was very excited to cross the Onaruto Bridge in to Shikoku because I had read about it before coming to Japan. I got off the bus at Naruto Park so that I could cross under the bridge to look at the whirlpools. I was a little late but caught the end of the tide changing and saw some interesting whirlpools. The attendants there spoke perfect English and they were very nice to talk to us for a little while.

I had met two of my friends there and we all went to Naruto Otsuka Museum, which is Japan's largest museum. The museum holds life-sized reproductions of some of the greatest Western art of the twentieth century, including the Sistine Chapel. Most of the work I had never seen before so it was very interesting. Luckily, my friends are art historian so they explained a lot of the paintings to me.

We were all very excited that you could touch the work because they were copies and took this picture of us touching the Mona Lisa. Apparently the real Mona Lisa is kept behind bullet proof glass.

Kobe Chinatown

I spent the next day exploring Kitano in Kobe. This area has lots of American and European style buildings, that were very pretty and actually made a nice change from Japanese style building.

I found two Japanese girls dressed as Sherlock Holms on an investigation, I thought they were so cute.

I also found the beautiful Kobe Mosque and was excited to see that in this area there was so many Middle Eastern shops. I was able to buy some of my favorite food; halloumi cheese and cous-cous.

Singapore - Day 2-5

Day 2:

The second day that we were in Singapore, we decided to see the Botanical Garden. There were so many amazing plants there. Also, what is even better is that it was free. I especially liked the orchid garden. Also, there were lakes and lots of pathways. Many people were enjoying the weather there. Also, you could walk through areas which were like preserved rain forests.

After going to the garden, we went swimming at my friend’s apartment complex. He’s really lucky because he has an Olympic-sized swimming pool with his apartment. It is really difficult for me to get to a pool in Japan, so it was nice to have one right there. That night, my friend's parents took us out to a local outdoor food court, which was interesting to say the least. It seemed like a lot of the food sat there for a long time.

Orchid Garden in the Botantical Gardens

Day 3:

The third day, we made our way to Sentosa Island, and just chilled there. We lay on the beach for a really long time. I’ve been a bit sun deprived lately, so it felt amazing to just bask in the sun. The beach was all man-made, so the palm trees were all perfectly placed. It’s really strange. That evening, we ate Pizza Hut. I miss pizza so much!!! After that, we went to see the movie “Inception.”

Beach on Sentosa Island

Day 4:

On day four, we went to Chinatown for souvenir shopping. Also, we went shopping on Orchard road. There are multiple topshops in Singapore. It was like heaven. Apparently, a new flagship store is opening in Shinjuku though. I hope it's just not as expensive as the one in Harajuku. That night, we went to the best restaurant ever. It was all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ. It included meat, vegetables, dessert, and drinks. It was so cheap. I’ve never felt so sick in my entire life from eating so much food, but it was so amazing.

Chinatown


The all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ Restaurant and my friend from university in Scotland


This bathroom was crazy. It had about 1000 mirrors and was inside a really expensive department store.


Orchard Road Shopping

Day 5:

On the final day, we went to the zoo, which is one of the best zoos I’ve ever been to. There was so much space, and monkeys kind of run free. There was an elephant show too. The entire place was amazing.

Julie (Kambara's old ALT) and me


Zebras!