JAPAN – “AMAZING trip- seriously couldn’t have planned this trip alone.. we are already thinking of our next adventure!”

Hope you are well! We had a fantastic time in Japan! Loved every thing about our trip.. was so sad to come back to Perth 🙁 Thank you for planning yet another amazing adventure for us!

Osaka – was pretty good but didn’t do much there other than Osaka Castle & Universal Studio! But really loved the big city vibe!

Kyoto – thats Naoshad’s highlight of our trip! He loved every thing about that town and really enjoyed staying in Gion Hatanaka! We really liked staying in ryokans…preferred them over chain hotels! Hatanaka was very clean, stafff were friendly..amazing breakfast served in our room super early every morning and our first experience in a public bath! It was such an interesting concept and once again the facilities were top notch! Our Tour Operator were also good – enjoyed both full day & half day tour exploring Kyoto! I should’ve probably made time to go to Nara which also sounded interesting however we ended up going to Himeji instead for a quick visit to the Castle which was still under construction but we walked around outside. The Maiko show was very entertaining.. it was good to meet Maikos and watch them perform; the dinner was also very delicious

Miyajima – This was my fav place – I loved the little island; def my fav rykoan out of the 3 we stayed in… food was just amazing! I don’t like oysters at all but they prepared them soo well that I can eat them all day! Also had great onsen facility which was amazing after a day of intense walking. Our only regret was that we arrived at that island really late so missed the night life! We loved the wild deers walking around the street.. they chase you if you have sweets with you but otherwise leave you alone. We loved walking around the island – walked upto Ottori Gate in low tide, climbed Mt Misen and went to the key temples.

Hiroshima – very serene and peaceful; the Memorial museum was very sad  🙁 ; interesting shopping district and food was good; Hotel Sheraton wasn’t very impressive- doesn’t look like they maintain their rooms very well- carpets were really old and not very clean. But we were only there for one night so didn’t bother us.

Kobe – Food highlight of our trip – Kobe Beef! Amazing steak just melting in your mouth! I can never eat normal beef again haha..

Tokyo – loved streets of Tokyo; city comes alive at night.. Loved Golden Gai! such a unique little place… we also watched the robot show.. most craziest thing I’ve seen in Japan haha.. I seriously thought we were  going to get kidnapped at some point before, during and after the show! It was so undercover haha; loved all the food places.. we had Wagyu again in a restaurant called Pandora! Amazing food… the beef was insane! Highly recommend pandora but bit on the pricey side for the highgrade steak. Saw Cherry Blossoms on our very last day in Japan in Ueno Park! Only few bloomed properly.. but soo crowded!

Yamanashi – the ryokan here wasn’t my fav – didn’t have a lot of amenities – ie No towel in the onsen change room which the other ryokans had.. the room was very small I think may have been for 1 person only or something… they didn’t have toileteries in the room either.. food was ok.. nothing spectacular… however – the Mt Fuji backdrop made up for that.. we had perfect visibility! It was just amazing to see Mt Fuji… regretted not having enough time to go to 5th Station!.. We took a sight seeing bus and stopped at few locations to take pics.. had lunch at a restaurant infront of the station which had a great view of Mt Fuji and was also good to try the local specialty (I don’t remember the name). We caught the train back bc there was no seat on the bus for that day but it was a good journey.

We loved trying Japanese food.. standing sushi in Shinjuku was the beest sushi I’ve tried there.. that and our last sushi meal at Narita Airport! Standing sushi was my fav! So delicious!!! the oysters in miyanjima were served cooked 3 ways – fried, baked & for hot pot! Yumm!!! I want some now hahaWe also tried puffer fish for the 1st time in kyoto! Was interesting indeed!

You never warned me about how much Japanese love to walk.. lol every time we asked for direction it was always ‘walk 5 blocks this way then 3 block that way ‘ instead of telling us about subway which is 2-3 mins ride lol!

Overall – an amazing trip for our 1 year anniversary and Naoshad loved every bit of it.. which was great as it was my anniversary+birthday present for him. Wished the cherry blossoms behaved for us haha

Thank you once again for our AMAZING trip-  seriously couldn’t have planned this trip alone.. we are already thinking of our next adventure! Just can’t decide a place – any recommendation? 😉