When visiting the famed area of Asakusa and the Sensoji shrine you’re bound to work up an appetite! Luckily, Nakamise Shopping Street and the side streets around it, have a plethora of amazing street foods to choose from. I decided to make a day of this the last time I visited. Come HUNGRY because there are so many different things you NEED to try! This one area offers up so many traditional Japanese street foods, each one costing only a dollar or so. You can easily spend under $15 for an entire 10-course meal! There are plenty of food tours of this area, but it’s so easy to do it yourself. While having a guide is a great way to ask questions and find out more from a local’s perspective about the area, doing it on your own means it’s up to you to find your way around and interact with the locals yourself.
When you think of visiting Japan, no doubt one of the first things you’ll imagine is walking into an ancient temple, painted bright vermillion, the smells of incense wafting the air. One of the most iconic of these temples is Sensoji in Asakusa, Tokyo. Perhaps the most visited temple in Tokyo, Sensoji is also the oldest temple in the city with over half millennia of stories to tell.
In the cosy, seaside village of Yokohama, you’ll find the fabled Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum. Although it’s dubbed a “museum”, the experience you’ll have is more in line with a trip to Epcot. The museum is almost like visiting a food-themed amusement park which sends you back in time in tastes and visuals.
About an hour from Tokyo lies the seaside town of Yokohama. It is the second largest city in Japan with a population of 3.7 million. Despite being such a big city it still keeps the small town feel that it once had when it was first established. Yokohama makes for an easy day-trip from Tokyo. It’s a scenic escape with a myriad of peaceful gardens and exciting activities.
On our last trip to Mexico, we were lucky enough to get a reservation at Pujol, in the Polanco neighbourhood of Mexico City. Pujol is one of the best restaurants in the world, as of 2019 it’s rated as #13 so getting a reservation at this place is a bit of a challenge but never give up! When we first booked our trip almost everything was booked for months and months but a few weeks before departure, one reservation at 6:30 for the Omakase tasting menu opened up and we grabbed it.
Shopping in Mexico City was one of my favourite activities when I visited this city! I found so many incredible things; textiles, interior decor items, sugar skulls, vintage clothing and more! I loved bartering in the markets and scouring the antique stores for lost treasures. Souvenir shopping in Mexico City is so affordable that you’ll want to get something for everyone so I’ve complied a list of my ‘must-buy’ and places places to shop for your friends and family, and most of all – for yourself!
Xochimilco is the Venice of Mexico. It’s an enormous network of canals which spread across this southern district of Mexico City. There are over 170 km of canals which spread out in all different directions. Before the Spanish arrived in Mexico City, the indigenous people of Mexico had created an incredible network of canals which they used as both a means of transport and as a way to ensure there was a constant supply of water throughout the country. Xochimilco means “Floating Gardens” and stands today as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as it preserves ancient Aztecs technology.
We just returned from our trip to Mexico City and let me just say upfront, this was one of my favourite places I’ve ever visited. The city wove a spell around me, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Mexico City is on the top of almost all the ‘Best Places to Visit in 2019’ lists and we wanted to get out there to see it for ourselves! There was SO much I learned after spending a week in Mexico’s capital and I wanted to share with you the most helpful tips I learned so you can plan your trip to visit this incredible place ASAP!
The first morning in Kyoto we decided to venture outside the city and visit one of Kyoto’s most popular sights: the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. Heralded as being one of the “most beautiful groves on earth” and designated a “National Historic Site and Place of Scenic Beauty” by Japan, the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is a place unlike anywhere else. It’s a place where you can escape yourself, as long as you manage to escape the throngs of tourists as well.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to do a bunch of psychedelic drugs in the year 2200? Well, wonder no more because the Robot Restaurant here in Tokyo is here to show you! The “restaurant” isn’t really a restaurant at all. What it is, is a futuristic, energetic, vibrant, exciting, surprising and overall insane display modern, Japanese cabaret.
Inside the bamboo forest, you’ll come across Tenryuji temple. The temple grounds are known as being one of the most beautiful in Japan and their famous garden, and its zen-like atmosphere was just the thing we were looking for as an to escape from the throngs of people who were started to filter into the bamboo grove.
Near the Bamboo Grove in Arashiyama, you’ll come across the entrance to the Ōkōchi Sansō Villa Gardens. After traipsing through the groves and narrowly escaping peak tourist hour, we were in need of a break from the selfie sticks and loud tour groups. Before entering we poked ours heads in the front gate. From there, it looked like there wasn’t a soul inside. Immediately as we passed through the gate and started to walk up the hill, the noise from the tourists below disappeared. We could hear our footsteps on the stones below and the sound of the wind in the trees. It wasn’t until the very end of the tour that we ran into another person. It was the perfect escape from the crowds below and more beautiful that we could have imagined.
One of the most iconic images of Japan has to be the bright, vermillion coloured torii gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto. Many people come to Fushimi Inari Taisha not knowing the scope of it. They see the images online and think it’s just a few small alleyways – this is far from the whole picture. The main shrine sits at the base of the Inari mountains, but a path of thousands of torii gates behind the building leads visitors up 233 meters above sea level to visit 4 kilometres of sub-shrines finally ending at the magnificent mountain top shrine.
Many people underestimate how much there is to do while visiting Arashiyama. We were lucky enough to book off an entire day here to explore, but I think if we could have done it all over again, we would have booked a hotel to extend our time there ever more. One of the attractions that often gets overlooked is the Iwatayama Monkey Park. Many people are dissuaded when they see it’s a 30-minute + hike, uphill, to where you’ll see the monkeys. They either can’t spare the time or can’t spare the energy. But let me tell you right now – it’s worth it…well worth it.
Arashiyama Village is more than the Bamboo Grove and monkey forest which surround it. Taking a walk down the busy streets and quiet laneways of the small town is an excellent way to experience Japanese culinary treats, see traditional Japanese architecture and explore some lovely shops selling souvenirs and hand made crafts.