Day 41 - Shibuya

Tokyo tiiiime!

Today we went to the shopping district of Shibuya, which is where the main intersection is that you see whenever you are shown Tokyo.
We walked around all of the shops and arcades (of course, playing some Tekken 6 on the way) and it was really awesome.

After looking around the shops we thought we'd grab some lunch. The food here is so cheap, you get so much for your money! I paid 500 yen (about 4 pounds) and got a bowl with rice, beansprouts and sliced fried chicken, AND another bigger bowl of noodles with onions in soup.

Afterwards, we went to the Tokyu Hands department store (where we'll certainly be returning) which contains everything that you DON'T need over a whopping 8 floors! Star Wars lightsaber chopsticks, you know, you know...

Then we headed back to the main square and I had to grab a Vanilla Cream Frappuccino from Starbucks... Obviously!
We thought it'd be time for dinner so we found this ramen bar which was SO SO good.
Pork ramen. MASSIVE bowl of it, only 750 yen!

I love Tokyo so far! Looks like it's going to be a good few days!

Day 40 - Arrival at Tokyo

After the drama of the flight here, everything was smooth. Customs, luggage, the lot.
It was now about 7am.
We headed straight to the Tokyo Narita station inside the airport and bought our tickets for this week.
They use a similar (but better) version of our Oyster card.
Called Suica, you load money onto this card and tap in and out at the beginning and end of journeys, just like Oyster, with a few key differences.
There are no penalty fares or any of this rubbish. There are adjustment machines at every station. If you have bought the wrong ticket or don't have enough money on your Suica to finish your journey, head to these machines and they will charge you the remaining balance.
If you don't KNOW how much you should be paying to get to a certain place, they TELL you to buy the cheapest ticket possible, and go to an adjustment machine at the next station.
The next major difference is you can also use them as payment elsewhere, at some selected shops and food places! The all-in-one Oyster card, not bad.
Then we boarded the Narita Express to Tokyo. You guessed it, they also do trains a lot better than England.

All seats are reserved, your ticket has the details on it, and the platforms all have clear markings of where each car of the train will stop. Easy peasy.

The train arrived and we boarded. The luggage storage is awesome! You pull a cord out, wrap it around your luggage, and place it in the lock. Then, you set a padlock code and that's it! Secure free luggage storage.

The seats were massive, there was tons of legroom, a trolley service, WiFi(!), plugs, 3 TVs in each carriage that show the current weather, delays on train lines, etc. They need that on London trains!

The transport system is fairly easy for me to understand because I'm so used to Londons transport system.

The JR Lines are the equivalent of our overground services (South West Trains, Southern, etc) and the Tokyo Metropolitan, which runs through central Tokyo is the equivalent of our London Underground.

We arrived at our hostel and it's beautiful! So traditional and they even have a rockpile of rocks from Mt Fuji! I'll take some pictures for tomorrow's blog post.

By the time we were properly settled in, and had walked around town for a little bit to become accustomed to our surroundings, it was about 6pm. We got in the shower and headed out to Akihabara, known as the 'Electric District' for its arcades, electrical and technology stores.

Of course we played in the arcades. Tekken 6 is a favourite of mine, but more about that tomorrow!

We got a few snaps but we got there quite late, so we'll get some better ones when we return.

I think we're going to have plenty of fun here!

Day 39 - Cairns Airport, and Sydney...

Wow. Today was an interesting day to say the least.

We got up early because I needed to go to Westpac (a bank over here) and withdraw some money for Japan (Westpac is partnered with Barclays so I can withdraw from ATMs without being charged internationally, unfortunately Barclays are not partnered with any banks in Japan.)

Joe stayed at the hostel and made use of all the food we had left over (as customs are extremely strict, no food at ALL to pass through customs). He made some fruit salad, and an omelette to eat before our flight.

The withdrawing of the money was fine, but the currency exchange wasn't.
For whatever reason the Dollar had gotten even STRONGER overnight and now the rates weren't as good!
I walked around looking for rates, found some good ones (82.83, quite decent) but they charged a $10 flat rate! Travelex made me laugh... 75.34 (terrible!) AND they charged 3%, which, when converting about $600 is pretty hilarious.
Eventually it was Westpac that came to my rescue (again). 82.35, not bad, and they said because I was their customer I would not be charged commission.
After that malarky was sorted, we headed to the airport.
It was all going so well. We walked up to the empty check-in desks, wondering why everyone had checked in already. We put our bags on the floor and started to get our passports out when we were told: 'Hi! Don't get too comfortable because your flight is probably cancelled'.
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
Obviously we were quite irritated because we're only spending 5 days in Tokyo, and whenever a plane is cancelled, it generally takes AGES to make new arrangements and fly out, but we were actually VERY pleasantly surprised.
They were completely honest with us, telling us that the captain had fallen sick last minute (and not just said 'due to a technical difficulty') and told us that while they weren't sure, they were 99% certain the flight would be cancelled.
Would you get that honesty at an English airport? Of course not!

Then it got even better! Within 15 minutes we were transferred on to a new flight, and upgraded. We were originally flying with JetStar (owned by Qantas, but JetStar would be the easyJet of Australia). We were told we would be flying on the afternoon flight with Qantas, back to Sydney! Sydney! Where we started! Then when we arrive at Sydney we'll be flying Qantas again to Tokyo.
Then, they gave us all each a letter for insurance cover, $100 worth of credit compensation to spend on a future JetStar flight, and a meal voucher worth $8. A meal voucher! In England you would have to FIGHT to get that, but over here they just gave them out, no questions asked!
And we were only delayed a few more hours, so I wouldn't have even thought it was necessary!

We had eaten some fruit already, but the box was still near enough full. We thought we'd take advantage of the meal voucher, and bought ourselves a nice big meal.
After eating more fruit, we boarded the flight to Sydney which took just over 2 hours.
I had forgotten that Qantas flights provide meals. And snacks. So along came the dinner trolley where they served bread, teriyaki beef with rice and vegetables, and a chocolate mousse for dessert. Oh.
Despite not really being hungry, I forced myself to eat it.

We arrived in Sydney and much like Cairns, there was no waiting around. We were directed straight to a bus that would take us to the International Terminal. I felt a bit nostalgic, being back in Sydney. I had missed this wonderful city.
Then we had just 20 minutes before we boarded. Again, despite not being hungry, this was the last chance we had to eat the remains of our food before throwing it all in the bin. So, we ate the large omelette and started nomming away at the fruits.
The fruits were really good, so sweet and juicy! We still had to throw some away because we didn't have time, but we got through quite a lot. But that was it, I really couldn't eat ANY more.

We boarded the Sydney to Tokyo flight with Qantas. About an hour after take-off, the dinner trolley came round. Oh. It was at this point I knew how the Vicar of Dibley felt in that Christmas episode where she went to all the Christmas dinners.
I couldn't do it. I tried and I tried, but only managed to eat half. I thought I was going to explode.
NO MORE FOOD.
As it was a night time flight, I went to sleep. It was quite comfortable, I managed to get a decent 8 hours sleep. But when I woke up, I thought I was having a nightmare.
As I opened my eyes and looked down the aisle, what do I see wheeling it's way down towards me? The breakfast trolley. NOOOOOOOOOOO.
Scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon. I just couldn't do it, even the smell made me feel like I wanted to die. I didn't so much as TOUCH anything on that plate.

I have to say it's been an eventful 24 hours but we have now left the beautiful place that is Australia and arrived in Tokyo, Narita.

Day 38 - Cairns Esplanade & The Lagoon

Well, today was our last day in Australia. I'm really upset! I really don't want to leave! I genuinely thought 5 weeks in Australia would be enough, but it's far from it. When (yes, when!) I come back, I'll be out here for a lot longer for sure.

We spent the last day how it should have been spent. Sunbathing and swimming the whole day at the beautiful manmade lagoon, as it is too dangerous to swim in the sea in Cairns. Crocodiles!

Still haven't gotten used to how humid it is here in Cairns! And still can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow!
Our flight is during the day so there won't be any jetlag when we arrive in Tokyo.
It's been so lovely Australia! See you again soon! <3

Day 37 - Cairns Central

Cairns is absolutely beautiful. Completely different to anywhere we've been so far, because it's so humid!
It rained very slightly today but it really didn't matter, because it was so humid we WANTED the rain!

After walking around the shops for a bit we went to the fruit & veg market in Cairns. It was brilliant! So much cheaper than the supermarkets. Coles and Woolworths (the equivalent to Tesco/Sainsburys, etc) sell bananas for $12.00 per kilo, the markets were selling them at half that!
Plenty of samples too, so as we walked by we tried all sorts of weird and wonderful fruits, including Fiji Fruit. They taste good! The fruit tastes so good out here. Tasted and bought the juiciest pineapple ever!
We bought some cheap vegetables for our stir fry tonight, red peppers, green peppers, onions, the lot!
We also bought a dragon fruit. It looks really good! We haven't tasted it yet but check tomorrows post for the verdict!

 

One more full day tomorrow and then we're off to Tokyo! We're going to Cairns Esplanade tomorrow to spend the day on the beautiful man-made lagoon!

Day 36 - Mission Beach and Arrival at Cairns

We took the opportunity to explore North Mission, just north of Mission Beach.
We walked along what would have been a beautiful beach, but unfortunately evidence of the cyclone is still everywhere.
Mission Beach was once a lovely place, but now it just seems to be a desolate town. There aren't many people about and the destruction is all over the place. Uprooted palm trees, derelict houses, the lot. This is over 2 months after the cyclone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was quite upsetting to walk through really, but I'm still glad we came to Mission Beach.
Afterwards we walked down the beach for an hour all the way back to our hostel.
We got on our bus, and 2 hours later we arrived at our final destination, Cairns.

We arrived in Cairns at 6pm, so there wasn't much time to have a look around. We walked down the main street and headed to our hostel. On our way we passed a massive casino and many shops, I'm sure we'll have a lot to do tomorrow!

The hostel is great, they're really helpful and have properly briefed us on things to do here.
Can't believe Australia is nearly over!

Day 35 - Arrival at Mission Beach

Most of today has been spent on a bus, and we started to realise just how much damage the cyclone did a few months ago.
We passed blown down trees, and many trees now on a slant.
A whole town was seemingly still wiped out, derelict houses all about the place, it was not very nice to look at.

We arrived at Mission Beach at 7pm, so the sun had already set. Consequently, we didn't get to see much, but the hostel is still suffering a little bit due to the cyclone damage. We're only staying for 1 night before heading up to Cairns, but I'll get some damage pictures tomorrow.
Until then, night night!