Another Day, Another Palace

Day 12, once again found us at the train station.

Today we are off to Kyoto and a visit to the Imperial Palace. The Kyoto Imperial Palace is the former ruling palace of the Emperor of Japan till 1869 when they moved to Tokyo. It has been around in some form or other since the 12th century. 

For state ceremonies, the dignitaries would enter through the Kenreimon Gate  which has a cypress-wood roof, and is supported by four unpainted wooden pillars. This gate would have been used on the rare occasions of the emperor welcoming a foreign diplomat or dignitary, as well as for many other important state ceremonies.










Passing through the Kenreimon, the inner gate Jomeimon would appear, which is painted in vermilion and roofed in tile.

This leads to the Shishin-den which is the Hall for State Ceremonies. Gates are every where, all having some special purpose.  

And of course what is a palace with out a garden.

We were not disappointed. 

One last stop before heading back to Kobe. 


Kinkaku-ju, literally "Temple of the Golden Pavilion"), officially named Rokuon, literally "Deer Garden Temple", is a Zen Buddhist Temple in Kyoto.

One of the most popular and most photographed sights in Japan. 

A beautiful bronzed Phoenix adorns the peak of the roof. 

The temple is now used to house Buddhist relics but a simpler more utilitarian temple was located nearby if you needed to get your Zen on.  

Had a Beef in Kobe

Day 10 dawned sunny and early for us as we were to arrive in Kobe around 9 am and we wanted to ensure we had the time to enjoy our delicious breakfast, instant coffee and to view the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge as we entered the port of Kobe.

The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge is a suspension bridge, which links the city of Kobe on the Japanese mainland of Honshu to Iwaya on Awaji Island. It crosses the busy Akashi Strait on the Inland Sea.  It has the longest central span of any suspension bridge in the world, at 1,991 metres (6,532 ft).  

Right on time, we docked at the port of Kobe Sannomiya Ferry Terminal.  Nonie was all smiles. From the terminal we were to catch a commuter train that would take us in to Kobe Sannomiya Train Station and our hotel located only a few blocks away. 





As we walked off the ferry we were followed by the English couple who had joined us on the ferry in Shanghai. We did not see much of them on the ferry.  They followed us to the small urban train station located next to the terminal. We started to talk and discovered that they were also joining us on the cruise to Vancouver. Their journey was almost a mirror image of ours.  Fly to Shanghai from England, catch the ferry to Japan, spend a few days in Kobe, travel to Tokyo for a few days before catching the cruise to Vancouver. We separated at the train station where they to were staying at an Air b & b only a few blocks from the hotel. 

Tonight, my plan was to find a Kobe Beef restaurant and tuck into one. It is the Holy Grail of meat.

“Wagyu” refers to any cattle that is bred in Japan or the Japanese-style. Kobe beef is comprised of a very particular strain of Wagyu called Tajima-Gyu that is raised to strict standards in the prefecture of Hyogo. Hyogo's capital city is Kobe, thus the name “Kobe Beef”. A major factor in the quality of Kobe steaks is the uncompromising regulations the region uses for its cattle. 

To be labelled Kobe, cattle must meet the following seven standards upon slaughter. Bullock (steer) or virgin cow.  Tajima-Gyu born within Hyogo Prefecture. Fed on a farm within Hyogo Prefecture. Meat processed within Hyogo Prefecture. Marbling rating (BMS) of 6 or higher on a 12-point scale. Meat quality rating of 4 or higher on a 5-point scale. An overall weight not exceeding 470 kg. 

Because of these stringent standards, only 3,000 head of cattle qualify as authentic Kobe cattle each year. In Kobe, the Mitsukoshi department store sells 870 grams for 31,500 Yen ($343 CDN a pound).  Translate that into a 16,000 Yen ($177 CDN) for a 250-gram steak in a restaurant.  No virgin beef for us, so it was Wagu and even that set us back 7,500 Yen ($83 CDN)

Kobe Beef is not readily available outside of Japan but you can buy true Wagyu Beef in Costco for $109.00 USD per pound but must buy a minimum of 11 pounds. I believe that that  having eaten beef in Kobe I can look you in the eye and say with a straight face that I have eaten Kobe Beef. 

Day 11, and we were off to the city of Himeji, about an 60 minute train ride from Kobe. This was our first time traveling on the much vaunted Japanese train system. It lived up to it's reputation. 

Himeji is home to the White Crane Palace also known as Himeji Castle is the largest and most visited castle in Japan, and was one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country. It has been around in some form or other since 1333. 

The Castle/Palace sits on a small hill overlooking Himeji.

We arrive early as we hoped to avoid the large crowds that were expected. We were visiting Japan in the middle of a 3 day national holiday and were warned that things could get busy. The Castle/Palace is entirely constructed with wood. To tour, you must be ready to climb up six stories on steep wooden stairs.   

From there we headed out to what would be our first of many Japanese parks.  Japanese parks are not like North American parks that are filled with huge grassy areas, large walkways and big shady trees.

They are smaller, more intimate filled with quiet little areas, each unique in their own way.

The trees are small and delicately manicured.

Quite often water plays a central theme in each area. Ponds, creeks, and rivulets abound. Many filled with multi-coloured Koi and Carp.

Despite the crowds, Japanese gardens are spookily quiet, almost church like. No noisy games of Frisbee or bocce here, just a time to commune with nature.

Every park has a tea house where enjoying a cuppa is not so simple and demands a ceremony before, during and after. Tea is a very serious business in Japan








Our first full day in Japan was wonderful. If we were struck by any one thought, it was how clean and efficient life is here.  Tomorrow, we are off to Kyoto and the Imperial Palace. 

Travel with a Ferryphobic

Day 8 proved to be even hotter than day 7. Our 93 % certainty of where we had to catch our ferry to Japan was to prove faulty. We like to arrive early for any of our departures and today was no different, leaving the hotel about 2.5 hours before our departure time.  It was only a 10-minute  sweaty walk to the International Cruise terminal. 

The international cruise terminal passenger area was pretty quiet, something that made us a little apprehensive as we had hoped to find signage indicating some directions to our check in point.  We were early, this is China so our stress levels were still in the green zone. 

At 90 minutes to departure, it was starting to move into the red. We had been told we would find the check in area in the parking area of the terminal. We tried to enter into an area marked as passenger waiting room only to be growled at by a surly guard at the gate.  Made several calls to the ferry company that went unanswered. At 60 minutes, our stress levels were clearly in the red. 

There was a new guard at the entrance to the passenger waiting area, so we tried again. This one was way friendlier. He listened and immediately walked us over to a partially  hidden driveway that led to down to more parking areas under the terminal. We walked down the dimly lit curving ramp and in a dimly lit area at the back was a small illuminated sign flashing “waiting area”. Stress returned to green.   

Talking Nonie into taking a ferry to Japan was a bit of a challenge. She has a healthy fear of water and had read to many stories of Asian ferries flipping over.  This was her vision I had to over come.  I told her that the head office for the Japan China International Ferry was in Osaka. Based in Japan gave Nonie some comfort that the ship, the Xinjian Zhen was Japanese and would be clean and well run. I may have not provided all the pertinent information.  

As we loaded the bus that would take us out to the ship's berth, I silently prayed that the image of the ship prominently pictured on their website was what we would find or Nonie may not want to board.  

It was, almost, at least close enough that she got on board. 

The Xinjian Zhen  travels between Shanghai and Osaka and alternately Kobe Japan hauling mostly freight and few if any cars. 

The trip took us down the very busy Huangpu River, into the Yangtze River out into the Yellow Sea, across the East China Sea, Sea of Japan and into the Inland Sea of Japan docking at Kobe two days later. 

I had booked the Special room

but in fact it was nothing special. We were joined  on board by about 30 passengers. Mostly Chinese vacationers, business men and one retired English couple about our age.  More about them later as they stayed mostly in their room, a VIP room and we did not get to know them that well on the ship. Perhaps I should have booked the VIP room. 

Day 9 was mostly uneventful. 

The seas were calm as we entered the Inland Sea of Japan through narrow strait where we caught our first glimpse of Japan.  

The food was standard Chinese cafeteria food.   I had suspected that so we did pack some snacks and ate noodle bowls from the vending machine avoiding the cafeteria. 

Breakfast was included in our ticket but lunch and dinner was at our cost.  As you can see, breakfast was very filling and very Chinese. 















The ship had free laundry machines so we took advantage of them and recharged our wardrobe, ready for Japan. 

So did the other passengers who filled the hallways with drying laundry. 

The last night on board was an evening of inexpensive drinks in the lounge and a dazzling display of karaoke by yours truly belting out one of my favourite Beatle's tune, Michelle to a packed crowd.  Standing O's all around. 

Tomorrow morning we land in Kobe, the start of our Japanese adventure. 

From Shivers to Sweat

Day 5 and travelling from 10 C to 28 C and 80% humidity in under four hours was a bit of a shock to the system and a challenge on selecting the right clothes. Layers are the secret, which we quickly shed as we exited the plane. 

We decided to skip the speedy 431 kilometres per hour mag-lev train and take the slower subway into Shanghai. The subway system is first class and easily ridden by anyone who has some experience in riding the subway any where else in the world. No problem finding our hotel. Having visited Shanghai on several occasions and kinda knew our way around. 

We selected our hotel as it was close to the international cruise ship terminal, our departure point for Japan in two days hence. Upon arriving to our room and setting down our luggage, an annoying buzzing noise started up. It was difficult to determine where it was coming from but it did seem to becoming from the cooling system in the ceiling. I went down stairs reported the problem and ten minutes later two maintenance men showed up. The crawled up into the ceiling and tapped and pushed everything in sight but failed to stop the buzz which was now becoming quite annoying. I went back downstairs and requested a new room which was quickly granted. We grabbed our luggage and headed downstairs to a new room. The annoying buzz follow us down the hallway, into the elevator and into our new room. Seemed the whole hotel had a problem.

Our new room was even more opulent then our first room. A corner suite on the 12th floor with floor to ceiling windows on two side and dramatic views of Shanghai and the Pudong. Except for the annoying buzz, everything was perfect. Or was it? 

As we sat enjoying the view, Nonie suddenly jumped up, ran to her luggage, ferociously ripping things from her bag, emerging with a hand full of buzzing electric toothbrush. Problem solved.

Day 6 dawned with clear blue skies and high humidity. We quickly opened all the curtains of our room so we could enjoy the magnificent views and let the sun shine in. In just a few minutes, the temperature of the room went from 22C to 32C. The AC unit struggled to lower the temperature for the next two days without much success despite keeping the curtains fully closed for the rest our stay.

Today, we were headed to Hangzhou today to spend time with more of our extended Chinese family, Abbas and Solmaz.  Hangzhou is located 50 minutes from Shanghai by high speed train. Like most train stations in China, Hongqiao Station is a very busy place requiring much patience and standing in line. Getting into the right line is very important as we have learned over the years. No seats were available but we were able to purchase standing tickets. We could easily stand for 50 minutes. We have had friends travel on standing tickets for trips lasting over 24 hours. 

We found some room near the back of the car at the opposite end from the washrooms. Tip, always try and get seats away from the washrooms. Shortly after the train departed a young East Indian man stood up and offered Nonie his seat. Nonie took him up on his offer and for the next 45 minutes I learned more about her benefactor. He was from India and currently living in Shanghai working in his family’s textile business. The area Around Hangzhou is one of the main textile areas of China but it was unclear if he was buying or selling.  None thinks he was selling cloth made in India to the Chinese. 

Abbas was there to meet us at the station along with another addition to our extended Chinese family, their daughter Maya. Maya was very shy and clung on to her father. She rode in the back of the car with Nonie and became quite anxious and started to cry. Abbas stopped, parked and tried to calm her. She was fine as long as he cuddled her but when he tried to place back in her car seat, she was having none of that. It seemed we were at an impasse. Nonie’s grandma instincts kicked in and reaching into her bag pulled out a small gift that we had brought for her, two dvd’s of Peppa Pig.  I just so happened that Peppa was Maya’s favourite cartoon. A connection was made, smiles all around and the drive resumed over excited discussions of the adventures of Peppa Pig. 

Brunch was ready for us when we arrived. We introduced Solmaz and Abbas along with most of our extended family to the concept of brunch. Solmaz had prepared pancakes for us, something  else she learned from Nonie during one of our many brunches.  

After brunch it was off for a car tour of Hangzhou. We had visited previously so headed out of the city and into the hills surrounding the city. Tea orchards/plantations/farms/field were everywhere, pouring down the terraced slopes like green waterfalls.

A stop at a small village where we enjoyed the freshest cup of tea ever. From tea bush/tree/shrub to tea pot. Then it was back to Hangzhou for dinner and on to the train station and Shanghai. We had seats for this trip.

Day 7 was a busy day. On to the Japanese consulate to pick up our rail tickets, confirm ferry tickets and physically walk to the ferry boarding area. Despite verbal directions from the ferry people, we wanted to be 100% sure of where were going. A habit developed in China after a lot of lost time and missed appointments. By the end of the day we were 93% sure we knew where to go as ferry signage was none existent at the cruise terminal.

The rest of the day was spent with a walk along the Bund. A surprisingly clear day with nice views of the Pudong.  The Pudong is a recently created(20 years or so) modern neighbourhood located across the Huangpu River from the Bund.

At night the buildings are lit up with 40 story images projected on the sides of the high-rises. Very stunning. Picture compliments of Wikipedia. I could never do it justice. 

It was then on to what had been advertised as Old Shanghai. Basically, a giant, refurbished souvenir market with way to many tourists. 

Along the way we accidently stumbled across the real "Old" Shanghai.  After some desultory souvenir shopping it was back to the hotel to prepare for our next adventure. We are off to Japan tomorrow.