Howdy all! Time for my second update of the trip. When last you left me I was staying in Kyoto, after visiting Osaka from there and Arashiyama. Onto Week TWO of the trip then, and the first day in that week was perhaps the most exciting of all – Universal Studios, Japan! On with my diary!

Day 8 Monday – Universal Studios Japan, Osaka

Week Two began with a bang. A rapid train from Kyoto to Osaka (these cost 580Y by the way if you were wondering and take 31 minutes) and then a couple of changes to get out to Universal City, which is a strip of bright lights that lead to the entrance of Universal Studios Japan, which henceforth I shall refer to as ‘USJ’.

We bought tickets for 9,900 Yen online before leaving Australia, it was strangely cheaper on the Sunday at 8,900 Yen but we figured Monday would be the less busy day of the two, at that’s around $90AUD which is a very good price anyway.

The day was good, and long – I stayed until after 7pm after arriving at 10am. I got on nine rides which equates to one an hour. Highlights included the Hollywood Dream Coaster which I declared the best ride of the day. It’s a great, fast roller coaster that blasts music at you next to your ears. Not sure if it enhances the ride in anyway, but it was ok. Harry Potter: The Forbidden Journey was my wife’s favourite ride of the day, we also did the classic Jurassic Park Ride which has a great drop down a waterfall (kinda) at the end, and I also really enjoy the Space Fantasy ride too.

Special mention to Super Nintendo World, which is basically Super Mario World where they have recreated the game as an area which looks amazing, and has two fun cart rides including one where they advertised the wait as 150-170 minutes but it only took 80, the longest wait of the day. Lunch was okay, not too expensive for a burger meal at 2500 Yen (approx.) All in all, awesome!

Day 9 – Tuesday, Kyoto

This was the last day in Kyoto, we were returning to Yokohama on the evening Shinkansen at 7pm. Whilst my wife enjoyed the surrounds of an onsen back in Osaka, I decided to head out to three big sights in Kyoto, figuring it would take me a couple of hours, 3-4 at the outside. But in fact it took me most of the day!

Firstly I went to Fushimi Inari, a temple a couple of stops from central Kyoto, famous because it sits down Mt Inari and behind this temple are gated walkways up the mountain (I believe to a temple there). This is known as the ‘thousand toris’ – tori being the word for the red wooden gates Japan is famous for. It’s packed with tourists. And a big place for selfies, but very cool too.

The Kyoto Railway Museum was absolutely awesome, and I spent a bit of time there. Loads of old steam locomotives along with the odd Shinkansen or two, and other kinds of Japanese rail marvels too.

Finally I went to Kinkaku-ji, known as the Golden Temple. It was a 40 minute bus and I had to catch one all the way back to Kyoto Station which was a bit further. So that took up a little time. I also had Duck Soba for lunch at this nearby restaurant, I had to wait at least 45 minutes to get a  table there too so it all adds for a longer day I guess.

The temple itself doesn’t require a long time. You walk through gardens, the temple is on a small lake, and once again, loads of visitors so competition when you want to take a photo or three. It’s regarded as overrated, and you know, it gets painted regularly to maintain its golden sparkle, but it does make for a very pretty picture.

In the evening we returned to Yokohama where we would be for the rest of our stay in Japan. More or less.

Day 10 – Wednesday Yokohama Hekkeijima Sea Paradise

Wednesday saw me spend the majority of the day at this theme park/aquarium called Yokohama Hekkeijima Ses Paradise. I was planning on a ‘rest’ day this day, but with bad weather on the way, I had to get this done whilst the sun was shining.

It’s on this little island reached by the very cool train that is the ‘Seaside Line’, running on concrete, it looks great out the front of the train, and that’s where I was seated. I shot this little YouTube Short on it.

The park is full of rides, shopping, food and an aquarium. For 5,700 Yen you get basically unlimited rides and access to the aqua elements of the park. This includes the aquarium/aqua museum which is the centrepiece of the park. It has a lot of sea mammals which surprised me – seals (some really large ones) and walruses, which are massive. Then there was a sad polar bear in his own enclosure. I wasn’t sure I had made a good choice here.

To be honest, I came for the Sea Coast Leviathan which is a super cool roller coaster. No lines to speak of, I got on straight away – the aquarium had quite a few visitors but much of the rest of the place was quiet as. It has a great view over the bay and back of the island, doesn’t go super fast, is a three minute ride which is long ish for a roller coaster. Yeah, that was the highlight.

There was also a ‘dolphin show’. This included the rather large Chinese White Dolphins, which I hadn’t seen before. Look, it’s amazing that dolphins can be trained to put on a show, but again I do feel that it’s not the right thing to do. I do realise aquariums and places like this do important research, so I’ve mixed feelings. Kids also learn a lot at aquariums too. They have (or maybe had?) a dolphin show at Sea World on Australia’s Gold Coast. It’s not a unique thing to Japan.

Day 12 – Friday

So the Thursday was my rest day. And it rained ALL DAY, so I made the right choice. It also saw a very big drop in temperature, which continued into Friday. In fact it was around 16 degrees Celsius, in Kyoto it was well into the 30s.

Having packed Thursday, we made our way to Ueno in Tokyo to stay there for the night as we both had (different) flights to catch on the Saturday. I bought an SD card as I realised I wouldn’t quite have enough space for all the filming I was likely to do. Probably. I was shocked that retail store prices for SD cards in Japan were just… a LOT! I forked out $155AUD (without tax) for a local brand 256gb, not super fast or anything either. It was a lot less than San Disk, Samsung or Lexar too.

Went out for a nice dinner, had both Kobe and Wagyu steak at a small teppanyaki/okonomiyaki restaurant. Had a comfortable if expensive stay at a hotel right next to Ueno Park.

Day 13 – Saturday

Day started early, I was up at 650am for a quick shower and goodbyes and I was off to Narita Airport. I took the Keisei Line direct from Ueno, one stop and there in 41 minutes, going pretty fast at times too.

Check in for my China Eastern flight to Shanghai (where I was connecting to Zhangjiajie) was slow and confusing. Finally at the desk they took a long time to check me in, I had to provide onwards ticket from China, and then the lady just kept typing and referring to her iPad for what seemed like forever but was in fact 15 minutes. Anyways, all good! Security was fast. And before I knew it, I was up in the air on the way to Shanghai, my first time on China Eastern Airlines.

Shanghai Airport (Pu Dong) was strangely empty, and lacking in decent air conditioning but massive and it felt, built for the future. There was a lot of work going on too on the other side of the runways so it seems it is turning into a real mega-airport.

The second flight took me to my final destination of the day, the city of Zhangjiajie in Hunan Province. The approach was something else through thick cloud until a minute before we touched down, the sun almost down, as we taxied I could see the airport surrounded by mountains!

Day 14 – Sunday

This day was mostly a rest day, I did a lot of video editing and planning for my next four days which will obviously be detailed in next week’s blog update. Zhangjiajie’s National Park was the inspiration for the ‘Hallelujah Mountains’ in the movie series Avatar, with sharp rocks and small islands of land rising up 1000 metres from the land. So this why I am here.

Getting used to China is an adjustment – primarily using Alipay or WeChat to pay rather than cards or cash. Anyways, more adventure awaits! Stay tuned for the updates!

Thanks for reading today, take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!