A Memorable Izakaya Experience

That evening I said farewell to the girls and headed off to my accommodation for my solo leg of the trip. For the remainder of  the trip I stayed in the Tokyo Origami Hostel, I felt so much more at home here than in the hotel. I'm such a backpacker at heart. I love the friendly, quirky hostels that can be found pretty much anywhere you go these days. This hostel was particularly excellent, very clean, excellent facilities and a fantastic view of the Sensoji temple and Tokyo tower from the top floor. The location was perfect too, located just behind the Sensoji temple, it was close to a number of interesting places to see, while itself being in quite a local area.

That night, I headed out for my first solo dinner. Around the quiet streets of the hostel were lots of neatly hidden izakaya's. At first I was a little bit nervous about entering one, when I peered into a couple it seemed more like a family gathering in a small living room than a place open to the public.

This was a particularly intriguing entrance to one nearby bar

Finally I did take the plunge, I don't know why I chose the one I did, but I just walked in. The mamasan and the middle aged Japanese men drinking inside did indeed looked very shocked to see me standing in the doorway. This reconfirmed my suspicions about this area being a local part of Asakuru. Nevertheless, they invited me in to sit down, by this point I knew there was no turning back.

Nobody really spoke much English, there was one older man who could speak enough for us to find out a little more about each other. With no offering of a menu, the incredibly graceful mamasan cooked me up an assortment of Japanese food, right in front of me. I have no idea what any of it was (it wasn't sushi or ramen) but it was fresh, delicious and like nothing I have ever tried before. Along with the food I was given a very generous portion of sake, naturally. Finally over the shock of seeing a young british girl in their local, they others started warming up to me. The older man who could speak a bit more English asked me what my favourite Japanese food is, I told him I liked ramen and sushi (very boring and predictable of me). Almost immediately after, the mamasan began making me a bowl of ramen, I was already full but of course I couldn't object. The ramen was, again, like no ramen I have had before, but it was undoubtedly the best ramen I have ever had. After this, I spoke a little more to the others, I tried to teach them some English phrases and in turn they tried to teach me some Japanese, little progress was made on either part but we got on companionably.

 Just as I was about to retire back to the hostel, the older man received a delivery. It turned out he had ordered some sushi for me, apparently it was from the best sushi place in town. Almost fit to burst after all the other wonderful Japanese dishes I had been presented with, again I felt like I had to eat it. The sushi was, again, fresh and delicious and they filled up my sake glass this time with the bars 'finest whiskey'. Despite having ate enough to feed the entire izakaya, I managed to finish nearly the whole box of sushi and the whiskey. More than ready for bed at this point I said my farewells and headed of to the hostel. It had been a long day, especially considering the brutal hangover I had started it off with.

This experience was truly special, it's moments like this that i'm sure will keep me burning to travel for the rest of my life. Being embraced so fully by people of another culture, and in spite of the language barrier having a laugh together and learning a little more about each other. This also reflected the amazing kindness and generosity I experienced all over Tokyo from the Japanese people, I think they truly have a special culture.

The izakaya from the outside

A Walk Around: Tokyo

After a sound nights sleep at the hostel, I woke up bright and early, excited for a full day of exploring the streets of Tokyo. I went to a nearby cafe to get my coffee fix and mull over a lonely planet guide of Tokyo to plan my day.. if only this was life everyday..

I decided to first check out the Tsukiji fish market first as it is only opens in the morning and is quite close to Asakusa.

The Tsukiji fish market is the largest in the world, the fish are auctioned every morning. This auction sets the price for fish all over the world. If you're willing to get up early enough (or just not sleep..), you might be one of the lucky 120 tourists who can watch this auction every morning, my hostel offered this trip, just a 2.45am start! Just think of that fresh sushi breakfast..

I had a spontaneous stop of at Ginza, a high-end shopping district. I had a look around The Sony Building, on the top floor there's a technology museum, a showcase of how Sony's technology has advanced over the years. It was a reminder of how incredibly fast technology advances, and it made me feel extremely old to see products I remember using in an actual museum. If you go to this building make sure you have a go on the melody staircase, each step lights up and makes a noise as you step on it! So Japanese.

After this, I decided to go for a walk around the Imperial Gardens, we stopped here on the bike tour but didn't go inside the grounds. I liked this about the bike tour, you got a good overview of most of the main sites, so you can later decide to go back to sites which interested you more.

After having a stroll around the enormous grounds, I went back to the station and headed off to Mikata, home to the Ghibli Studios Museum. Now, I researched this beforehand and it turns out you have to book a ticket months in advance to get into this museum, there were none left even when I had looked over a month in advance of my trip. I still wanted to go, just to see it, as I had nothing else in particular I wanted to do and I read that it is in a nice park. It turned out that the museum was actually closed for maintenance for two weeks over the time I was visiting, this made me feel a bit better about missing out, not just over not being organised enough, as I wouldn't have got a ticket anyway. The exterior of the museum is as tantalising as a Ghibli movie, shrouded in leaves with just a touch of abnormality to the decor. Ben and I will almost definitely cross through Tokyo on our travels later this year, so we will make sure we get tickets to go next time!

The park was lovely as well, I hired a paddle boat and had a paddle along the lake, which was a little weird solo, but sometimes you've just got to do these things when traveling alone. I left the park a different way from where I entered, which lead me down a street full of quirky, vintage spots and the biggest Uniqlo store I've ever seen. So, my trip out to Mikata wasn't so bad at all, even without the Ghibli Museum.

After that I headed to Shinjuku, a trip to a city isn't complete without a birdseye view. Noel told us about the viewing deck from the 45th floor of the government building, free entry and no queues! So I headed there and watched the sunset from the top of the city. It was a spectacular sunset which made the city look like a glittering, concrete ocean.

Once the sun went down, given my location, it seemed like heading to Shibuya was naturally the next thing to do. I went and observed the busiest crossing in the world at its busiest time, and took in the neon chaos. This is the Toyko I had envisioned. But really, aside from areas like this, Tokyo is a very calm and tranquil city. I think I could easily live here for a while.

Blade Runner City

While in Shibuya I had my first experience of a 'vendor restaurant', where you use a vending machine outside the restaurant to choose your meal and pay. You hand your receipt to a chef inside the restaurant and the cook it up right in front of you. This is a cheap and super efficient way of eating out. I quite like how it eliminated the whole getting the bill and paying faff at the end (and splitting the bill if in a group). A great way of eating if you're alone or just look to grab a casual bite to eat.

I really covered a lot of ground during this day, I think you do fit more things in when travelling alone. Although I do like having the opportunity to explore a place myself, I would definitely be seeking company after a couple of days.

I headed back to the hostel after dinner, another beauty in the location of the Origami hostel is the fact you have to walk through the Sensoji temple to get there from the train station. It really is quite spectacular at night, we stopped by on our bike tour but it's crammed full of tourists during the day, I would highly recommend coming here at night instead. It looks amazing lit up, and the Tokyo Skytree is positioned perfectly behind. A great shooting spot for photographers.

Yangshuo

With my break over Chinese New Year, of course, I couldn't resist travelling to somewhere new! It had been the longest i've gone without going somewhere new since I moved to Hong Kong. I had been wanting to travel to Yangshuo for the longest time so finally here was my chance.

I counted this as my first proper trip to the mainland, I know I went to Beijing last easter, but you really don't get to know a place as well when you travel with a tour group. I got a good vibe when we went to Beijing, but this trip has really confirmed in my mind that the mainland is awesome! Friendly people, great food, unbelievable scenery. I would go as far as to say, I think Yangshuo is one of my favourite places I've been to. Here's why.

There's loads of hiking opportunities with incredible views

There are so many activities to do, from bamboo rafting down the River Li, to cycling.. well everyone cycles just about everywhere, and of course rock climbing. I read somewhere that Yangshuo is rated as one of the top places in Asia to go rock climbing (as you can see, there's no shortage of places to do it). I had never been rock climbing before, so here seemed like an apt place to start. 

As none of us were particularly experienced climbers, they took us to a beginners climb, it must have been the most difficult beginners climb possible, however looking at that mountain scape I doubt there's many true 'beginners climbs'. Despite being thrown in the deep end, I loved it! I didn't make it all the way up, but I was happy with where I got to. I'll definitely do it again (maybe on an indoor climbing wall first, so I can at least get a better understanding of technique), needless to say I was aching for days afterwards. Definitely a great workout! I would highly recommend the company we climbed with black rock climbing, they made us feel very safe and even brought us caving and abseiling when we'd only paid for the rock climbing. 

The icing on top of finding a place you really love, for me, is staying in a great place. I just love the hostels in Asia, I would always choose to stay in a hostel over a hotel, price regardless, just because I always find the experience much more enjoyable. There's just so much more personality to hostels and of course you meet the most interesting people. I think we definitely made the best choice in hostels this time, staying at the Beautiful Hutong (or DaHutong). A traditional hutong style dwelling just outside of the town, the owner Simon was ridiculously accommodating, giving us lifts into town in the evenings and even arranged for Ben to get back to Shenzhen by getting a lift with another guest! A beautiful, tranquil place. We met some great people there, one of whom is currently living on our sofa in HK while he sorts out visa issues! I love the randomness of travelling. This was a perfect place to stay for me, you do have to cycle/ get a taxi if you want to go to the town, this was perfect for me but if you want to be in walking distance of everything it's perhaps not for you. 

The courtyard

Really, I could go on and on about Yangshuo and how great it is. So i'll try and tie it up quickly with a last few recommendations so you can get out there and experience it for yourself! 

I have to give a mention to the lovely Minority Cafe, where we ate breakfast there most mornings (I loved the Chinese food in Yangshuo, but I draw a line at Chinese food for breakfast). For 35Kwai (as the locals call it), so £3.50,  you got a main breakfast dish, I usually went for scrambled eggs and hash browns, banana bread, a side of muslei and yoghurt, fresh orange juice and a coffee! Unbelievably good value, and a great way to set you up for the day especially if you're doing lots of activities. 

As for Chinese food, I found it all to be fantastic everywhere we ate. The ingredients are very fresh here and it's nice and spicy. They also have great street food here, my favourite thing was being able to buy passionfruit on the side of the street everywhere, I always feel passionfruit doesn't get the attention it deserves!

Finally, if you're looking to have a few drinks in the evening and meet both locals and travellers alike,  as strange as it sounds the North Korean bar (yes, that's right) The DMZ bar is a great spot. It's owned by a North Korea travel company, it's genuinely a really cool bar and if you wish, you can book a trip to North Korea from there (I'm seriously considering this for when I go travelling at the end of the year). If you want to party late into the night Bad Panda and Monkey Jane's (which are actually hostels, just with great bars) are the places to go. Make sure you participate in a game of beer pong in Monkey Jane's!

There seem to be advertisements all over Yangshuo for English Teachers, where they provide food accommodation and a salary, the contracts start from one month. I'm really considering it, I'm going travelling in September and China is first on my list, this could be a very good place to end the China trip, earn a little extra money and a great opportunity to practice my mandarin... and maybe even end it with a trip to North Korea? 

Yangshuo, I'll be back!

It's More Fun in The Philippines

Over the previous bank holiday weekend I went on my first weekend excursion from Hong Kong. I was lucky enough to have the Friday off school as well (teacher training day in Cantonese) so me and my fellow English Teacher Jess booked a quick getaway to the Philippines!
There's one direct flight going from Hong Kong to Cebu airport each morning at 9, we decided to stay on Mactan island, where the airport is, as we were craving some beach time after our Easter city break to Beijing. A short pleasant journey (I think around six hours in total) from my flat in Mong Kok to our beach side resort in paradise. It was a great reminder of what a wonderful travel base Hong Kong is. We stayed in be resorts, a lovely boutique resort, complete with outdoor infinity pool, a marvellous cocktail bar and a great buffet breakfast included in the price of the room.
I was a bit worried that the trip would feel a bit rushed given we were only there for two full days and two half days, but we actually had a great balance of activities and relaxation time.

As my last trip to the Philippine's was to Boracay, is was nice to see a bit more local life and experience a Philippine city as well as enjoying the beautiful beaches. Not that there isn't any local life in Boracay, but the ratio of tourists to locals is definitely a lot higher! We had more opportunity to talk to the wonderful people of the Philippine's, definitely the friendliest country I have ever been to.

One the first day we went on a boat trip, I got horribly sunburnt but it was a great day.

Where we stopped for lunch

Our fresh seafood meal

Doing a spot of fishing, I caught three fish!

We hired a boat from a guy we got talking to just outside the resort. He was really nice, the price was reasonable and we had a whole boat to ourselves, but we did end up spending quite a bit more then expected given that he had told us a set price (charges such snorkelling fees, and we had a coconut incident not dissimilar to the one I had in Vietnam with a salesman in the snorkelling area, he gave us a coconut without asking if we wanted it then charged a fortune once we had finished it. Lesson: be wary of men with coconuts!) Still the amount we spent over the whole day was still very reasonable - the Philippine's is very cheap, just watch out for additional charges on day trips like this.

On the second day we went into Cebu to visit the historic area and check out city life in the Philippine's. We had a free guided tour around the beautiful Fort San Pedro - our guide was marvellous and we learnt some genuinely interesting things about life in the Philippine's during the Spanish era.

Magellan's Cross

Some local children at the Tabo-an market.

A great weekend, a day at sea, a bit of shopping, a bit of history, wonderful people, lots of Chi-Chi cocktails from the Salt bar at be resort (freshly blended pineapple, coconut milk, coconut rum and vodka) and a well needed break from my currently very hectic Hong Kong life!

It's definitely more fun in the Philippine's!

Beijing

During the Easter holidays our agency were lovely enough to take us all to Beijing for a long weekend to celebrate 10 years of business. We had a very action packed couple of days fitting in many (but certainly not all) of the sights that Beijing has to offer.
Although I was excited to experience Beijing, and indeed the mainland, for the first time, I'd heard very mixed opinions about the place so my expectations weren't particularly high. However, I was very impressed with the city, it had a lot of unexpected character and charm. I had seen so many pictures of smoggy Beijing concealed in a 'nuclear winter' like mask of pollution in the press over the last year that I had no expectations of it being a particularly beautiful city, aside from all the impressive tourist attractions that it's known for. I was pleasantly surprised however, I was really charmed by Beijing, it's friendly people and many, many bicycles.

This is the first time i'd visited somewhere as part of a tour group, we where with 'Wing On' a Hong Kong based tour agency. It was quite an interesting experience, I wasn't expecting the tour to monopolise quite as much time as it did (wake up call 6.30am back at the hotel by about 8pm nearly every day), and they were very against us walking around by ourselves. I think as the tour guides were used to the well behaved and obedient Chinese tourists, having nearly thirty young westerners under their charge was a bit of a shock. They did take us to a few too many pointless places that I'm pretty sure they get paid to take us to (i.e a chinese medicine lecture at 8.30 in the morning!) and being given a set amount of time to spend at each place was borderline infuriating (not enough time at the Great Wall, or Nanluoguxiang but way too much time trying to get us to spend money at a silk shop) Oh, and it was all set meals. Some of the food was nice, but we basically had the same meal for lunch and dinner everyday while we were on the trip, I would rather have spent my own money in some of the other lovely looking restaurants we did see.
In spite of all the annoyances of the tour I did have a great couple of days, with there being so many of us we had a good laugh, the hotel they put us up in was very impressive, and we did get to see a lot of Beijing. Needless to say I wouldn't do that kind of tour again. Trying to navigating yourself around the city and wandering around is often better than the sights itself for me, but it was a good one off experience shared with many friends and it was a lovely gesture from our company.

Beijing Highlights in pictures.

The Summer Palace

The National Opera House

Tianman Square

Forbidden City entrance from Tianman Square

Mao's tomb

Inside the Forbidden City

On the other side of the Forbidden City

Street style

The Great Wall

Sedgewaying around the Olympic Stadium

Water Park inside the water cube

Making friends in one of the Hutong's.

Pretty views on our rickshaw ride around the Hutong.

One of the many cute market stalls in the Hou Hai district.

One of my favourite spots in Beijing - the Hou Hai Neighbourhood, part of a Hutong area. It's very picturesque and lively. The colours of the lanterns around the big lake in the middle are really beautiful, a great place to relax and do a spot of people watching. We spent most of our night in the reggae bar, where there was a great vibe and dangerously cheap drinks. During the winter months you can go ice skating around the lake, which I can imagine looks beautiful.

Hot Pot flavoured crisps, intense and stimulating.

One of many wedding photo shoots happening in the Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven

The Birds Nest and Water Cube looking very impressive at night

Lots of cute cafes, small shops and bars with rooftop terraces in the Nanluoguxiang district.