What a day or two, started off with the beautiful Helen dropping us at Broadmeadow Railway for the train to Sydney, then we were met by Aunty Beverley & Steve to have a final dinner with us before boarding the new Air Bus to Narita Japan. The plane is amazing so much better than the old ones, larger area between seats, no problem with air pressure on the ears which is amazing for those who know me well.
We landed in Japan and got the shuttle to the motel, about 65km from Tokyo arriving at 8.00a.m., well the heat just about knocked us over coming out of the airport into 28oC and then later after lunch it was 33oC, checked in our luggage and headed for the Naritasan Shinshoji Temple, the third largest in Japan, well what can we say.
On the way there we walked up Omolesando Street a really narrow street with all sorts of wears for sale, dried and live fish, cane wear, groceries, fruit and veges - even a fan which I needed desperately. The local hair dresser had the most beautiful corn dollies in the window that I had to share with you all, they were so cute.
The serenity of the place was amazing, the size beyond belief and the Japanese Gardens leave ours for dead.
After walking through the gardens we headed to the middle temple in time for the chanting service by the buddist monks and the burning of the offerings to the gods accompanied by drumming and chiming of bells. We did hand cleansing in the sacred fountain, smudging at the giant incense burning urn.
All up I think we have walked at least 15km today, having just banana's for lunch - by the way four bananas for about $2 AUD - I know you are jealous.
Walking home we went to Tomoe a gaming club and had a look, the noise was deafening and the amount of people, smoke and machines was mind blowing. There were some like poker machines others like a ball bearing falling through metal nails, couldn't work this one out and rows of the pick up machines like we have in clubs to get chocolates, it was really eye opening.
After returning to the motel about 1.30p.m. we decided to jump on the free shuttle to the local shopping centre where we explored and had an early dinner - japanese soup with noodles etc is so much nicer with the Japanese make it, we totally enjoyed it - before going back to the motel for an early night.
We head to Paris tomorrow morning and Euro Disney. So we may not blog for a couple of days until we get the internet working there on a local sim.
Love K & L
Wow, what a quaint little street of shops. I can imagine having a good old snoop around there. Are the old parts of Japan all like that? Those corn dollies are so cute, luv them...Jenny
ReplyDeleteHi Jenny yes it seemed at least that this part of the old town was all like this, so narrow only really room for a car and a person on the road together - amazing. The corn dollies were amazing they grabbed my attention from across the street.
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