Pea Size Lump In Throat

Ascension Island Perhentian Mount Merapi - Samedi 9 mai 2009 au Japon Voyage

Link to photo album -> here

returned from 10 days holiday in Japan on Thursday afternoon, Friday morning here I am on a plane to Yogyakarta Yohann company and Thibaud. The goal of the weekend is just climbing the volcano Merapi volcano whose peak is located at 2911m. AirAsia schedules are not terrible : Starting at 11am on Friday, returning Sunday at 10am, but the ticket is cheap.

After about 2:30 flight, we here at the airport in Yogyakarta. 15 minutes for the payment of the visa and decontamination of clothing and our business, we take a taxi to Sosrowijayan the main street of downtown (500.00 Rp).

It first attempts to organize the trip with the agency Ari Tour & Travel. The tour costs Rp 200.000 per person all inclusive (Selo car, guide, car and Yogyakarta). The agency can not take us there tonight, we therefore decided to try another.

It is more likely the agency Great Tours and our tour so we bookons (190,000 Rp). The weather was overcast, a few hours later and here we are in a downpour, wondering if the rise will continue. So we wait patiently 22h while surveying the market and restaurants.

At 22h the car is there. We buy water and biscuits and get acquainted with a new playmate, Martin, Slovenia. 1h30-2h drive later and here we are at Selo, the starting point of the climb. It takes a tea and s'entrainons to night photography.

At 1am, we're on the road. Time is now cleared and we're fortunate to enjoy the full moon, which gives us good visibility.

The beginning of the trek is rather boring. We walk 20 minutes on a paved road, wondering why they frequently do not drive. We thus arrive at New Selo, this is where the festivities begin (picture day).

The beginning of the trek is a steep dirt path. Turning around, we have a rather scenic view of Mount Merbaba.

Here's a photo day show the second part of the journey.

After 3 hours walk, we arrive at what the guides call the platform. We finally have a clear view on the summit of the volcano. Indonesians have also established their camp for the night. (Photo by date)

From there, we still 1hr trek in the rocks. The slope is so very important. So in 4 hours we arrive at the top for a total of 1200m of altitude and 9km walk.

Right, we do not see the crater, only smoke escapes. The washer reservoir is located 1.5km below. Since the eruption of 2006 which just changes the structure of the summit, it became very dangerous to rely approach. It remains remotely without depriving themselves of the smell of sulfur fumes that surround us.

left, they are fumaroles.



And behind us, Merbaba.


After half an hour, the sun finally rises on a sea of clouds.



One begins to see the different volcanoes that surround us:

- The Sindoro and Sunbeng


- the Lawu



- The Merbabu and Telomoyo his right

It obviously took advantage to take pictures kings version of the World.

It descends to Selo. The descent is endless toast and knees. We will have 2:30 to get ready for the guesthouse.

We then returned to Yogyakarta. Today is a great dance show at Borobudur that shakes the town. Almost all the guesthouses are full and we need half an hour to find two rooms free at Nuri Losmesn with prices doubled (60,000 Rp per room).

It decides to take a nap until 15h. It wakes up at 17:30. And so it is under the black night as we walk on the beach Parangtritis after more than 1 hour drive (250,000 RP AR). We found there a small local restaurant to enjoy grilled fish.

We go on and Yogyakarta for a drink and a few games of cards.

is taken flight to Singapore on Sunday morning.


Contacts:

- Ari tour & travel Jl Sosrowijayan
26, Yogyakarta. Tel: (0274) 7494616/7434497/7437122 email: ari_transport@yahoo.com


- Great Tours
Sosrowijayan Jl 29, Yogyakarta. Fax: (0274) 583221 email: great_tour2@yahoo.com
Website: www.yogyes.com / great turn


Budget for 3:
Food: Rp 700.000
Housing: Rp 110.000
Transport: Rp 400.000
Fees: Rp 600.000
Total: Rp 1,810,000 (+ USD10 per person for the visa)

Link to the Photo Album -> here

How To Go In The Tech Deck Biggest Park

- Kyoto & Osaka - Avril 2009

Link to photo album -> here

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Program:
- Singapore flight - Tokyo

C ' is in a somewhat special as I arrive at Narita Airport. Tokyo already aware, I spend 3 days before Kayo to go with Kyoto and Osaka on the occasion of the Golden Week. This will not be a race to the monuments as I have done two years ago.

For now, these are Japanese white masks, taking my fingerprints and my picture. Once these formalities done, I spend nearly half past one in the metro to Ueno station. I found

Kayo and his brother. We start dinner at a little bistro where we enjoy on Western dishes Western dishes, including this quiche stuffed with burgers.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Program:
- training of sumo wrestlers
- walk in the steps of Ueno
- Walk in Harajuku
- walk in Shibuya

April 29 being a public holiday in Japan, Kayo with me to the training of sumo wrestlers in One of the many clubs that have the capital. Just arrived, the sumo train on the parking lot to get tires.

We then penetrate inside to attend al'entrainement. Sitting on a small cushion, we are on a small stage at 1 meter athletes. After a series of confrontations, the Sumos will then deliver a Following agility drills.

Then we go to Ueno where we have lunch in a small Japanese restaurant: a bed of tuna, tuna belly and shrimp over rice. Then we walk in a walk from Ueno.

At Harajuku, we traquons Japanese dressed extravagantly. Deserting the bridge near the metro station, we go looking for them in the cramped streets of Harajuku. Picking their way through the crowd we see a dozen of oddballs, including this lovely little doll.

We find Philip at the Starbucks in Shibuya. After the traditional photo of the intersection, then we go for the 109 Shibuya.

The 109 Shibuya is a shopping center specializing in clothing sexy Japanese. At the fiftieth Japanese mini-skirt, we go to Ikebukuro, where we dine with friends of Kayo.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Program:
- Nippori
walk in - walk in the park Ueno
- shopping in Asakusa, Ginza and Shibuya

All alone on that day, I decide to stroll among Nippori and Ueno. Down to Nippori, without a plan, looking for a small market mentioned Philippe will be unsuccessful. I stumbled upon the Yanaka cemetery.

Continuing south, I arrived at Ueno Park. I visit the Ueno Zoo. Bad surprise, the giant panda penssionaire zoo died in 2008. In other big cats, gorillas, birds, .. I take a picture of his distant cousin, the red panda.

then I can link with a shopping spree in Asakusa, Ginza and Shibuya.

was the Ginza district of Tokyo's most fashionable. It remains a safe place to purchase clothing.

Shibuya it is much more fashionable and is the image of Tokyo that they all represent dynamic.
I found

Kayo Ueno, we dine soba, salads and omelettes.

Friday 1st May 2009

Program:
- visit Kamakura
- Bus Tokyo - Kyoto

For this last beautiful day alone, I go to Kamakura, on the outskirts of Tokyo. Residing north of Tokyo, I'm going across town to go in this city was the capital of Japan from 1185 to 1333.

So after two hours I reached the subway station in Kita-Kamakura. Thirty Caucasian descent of a metro .. So here I am in a very touristic place. I attack first at-ji temple Engaku dating from 1282.

Then it will Kencho-ji Temple, the largest Zen temple and built in 1253.

In each temple, a wooden board which are hung with hundreds of small wooden blocks where the Japanese writing thoughts for their loved ones.

I then take a bus to the Daibatsu, the most famous site of Kamakura. This is a statue of Buddha of 11.4 meters high.
The temples are all more or less like I finished the tour with a final Kamakura Temple, Hase-dera, which contains a cute little pond.

I take the subway to Ueno. It is 4:45 p.m. ET I waited all day for lunch as it seems to be one of the best restaurants for Curry Udon, my favorite dish. So the second floor of the Ueno station that I enjoyed what remains for me the best Curry Udon to date.

I then returned to Ginza.

Kayo and I find ourselves next to Tokyo Station for dinner around a shabu-shabu.

Near Tokyo station, we take a bus to Kyoto. Parties at 10 o'clock in the evening we arrived at 5:30 am in Kyoto.


Saturday, May 2, 2009

Program:
- visit the Temple of Myoshin-ji
- visit the temple of Kinkaku-ji (Golden Temple)
- visit the Temple of Gingaku
-ji - visit the garden of Nanzen-in
- Search Gion Geisha Ponto-cho and

Everything is closed at this time, we put our suitcases in Kohro Ryokan where we will spend the night. Then we wait patiently for the Cop-in opens the doors of the buffet breakfast (1,000 Rp per person).

Then we go to the temple of Myoshin-ji.

This temple consists of several temples and the splendid garden Taizo-in.

The morning will conclude with a tour of the Kinkaku-ji, also called Golden Temple (Golden Temple), which actually changes all the other temples.

In the park of the temple, as we enjoy a traditional Japanese green tea.

We also buy our horoscopes from a machine. My paper is rather positive, that of Kayo less. No matter, we must now hang them to stay in the temple.

We leave in the city center and rent bikes at Cop-in after lunch towards Ginkaku-ji.

And finally, we finish this day visiting the garden Nanzen-ji as the Lonely Planet has the shape of a heart .. yeah if you want.

We then get back to the bikes go in search of Geishas. It seems possible to see them get to their appointments in the late afternoon / early evening in two separate locations: Gion and Ponto-cho.

We went first to Gion. He is 18h, a little early for Geisha, but not for the dozens of tourists waiting frantically with their cameras in hand. So we leave the streets of Hanami-koji.

We try our luck then Ponto-cho. No more results. We need to make the bike 19h, we have been able to stay a little longer.

We then take our neighborhoods Kohro Ryokan The Ryokan is a traditional Japanese home with a main room where the dinner will take and where we sleep. Just arrived, the staff succeeded to bring us our traditional dinner.

Once dinner ended, we removed the table to install futons on the floor. We will then in the public bath to shower Ryokan. There is indeed no shower in the European sense. To shower must sit naked on a stool in the middle others. I also take the hot water bath for a relaxation session before bed.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Program:
- walk in the march
Nishiki - visit the Temple of Kiyomizu-dera
- visit Ninjo-jo Castle
- dance performance Gesihas
- Train Kyoto-Osaka

8:30, the phone rings. This is the maximum time for breakfast at the Ryokan. Just hung up the phone, the same horde of staff came and futon store brings us breakfast, rather accustomed breakfasts sweet, I must confess that I really enjoyed it.

We stop first at the Nishiki Market.

We then take the bus 207 for Kiyomitzu-dera Temple. It's crowded in the long climb that takes us to the temple.

We eat a banana pancake, chocolate, whipped to wait until lunch time and take a taxi to the castle Ninjo-jo.

The castle is not unique. It is forbidden to take pictures inside. But the little pond is not too bad.

We then witness a performance of Geisha dance at 16:10 in a cabaret of Ponto-cho.

We go to the futuristic Kyoto Station to catch a train to Osaka (30 min).

We put our suitcases in the Shin-Osaka Hotel Star (18, ooo yen for 3 nights), it is far from the price of Ryokan. We go out to dinner Dotombori in a Thai restaurant before returning to the hotel to take a hot bath.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Program:
- visit the castle of Hikone
- visit the Amerika Mura
- visit of the Umeda Sky Building

Hikone Castle is more accessible from Kyoto. But not having had time to do it before, since Osaka is that we are going there. We must therefore not far from half past one to get there. Golden Week requires is two hours in line waiting for us to penetrate inside the main pavilion.

Not wanting to spend our day waiting, we decided to walk in the park of the castle and in the garden Genkyu-in.

A huge traffic jam prevents us from leaving. We therefore decided to wait by eating Takoyaki balls, flour stuffed with vegetables and squid.

Back in Hikone Station, we breakfast Mac Donald to take a short break from my Japanese diet. Then taken the train to Osaka to visit the district Amerika Mura district filled with shops of clothing to the Japanese who idolize the USA. We will then

the Umeda Sky builidng to admire the view from the fortieth floor.

rejoigons We then Philip, Yukiko, and their friends in to eat Okonomiyaki omelettes. They return from the temple of Koya-san in particular to communicate with Buddha during a two-hour session of meditation.
We then return to the hotel for a sauna & hot mix.



Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Program:
- Osaka-Nara
train - visit Nara

We take the train to Nara in the company of Philip and Yukiko (45 min, 890 yen).

We start the tour with 5-storey pagoda.


We continue with a tour of the temple Todai-ji.

In this temple is a huge bronze statue of Buddha.


We will also see two other temples. En route we stopped to feed the many deer present in the reserve.

We return to Osaka. Philip and Yukiko on leave Tokyo while Kayo and I go visit the largest wheel in the world (112m). The Singapore Flyer has a highest point at 165m but the wheel itself will be smaller. We dine in the mall of the Giant Ferris Wheel: Takoyaki meshi and soba (soba and rice). One last hot bath / sauna and bed.

Wednesday, May 6

Program:
- Osaka-Tokyo flight
- walk in Akihabara

For the first time the trip we decide to sleep late. We're going straight to the airport for flight to Tokyo from 13.30 (1h, 15000 yen). We realize

Akihabara then one of the many shopping malls. It is indeed a paradise for all electronic equipment. I look at the iphone and equipment for SLR cameras.

We will then in the apartment of Philip and Yukiko for a drink before dinner at a brewery on the banks of the River. This magnificent piece of beef will be my last dinner on this trip.

Philippe us back in the car with brother Kayo.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Program:
- Vol Tokyo - Singapore

It's 6 am when Kayo with me to MRT. An hour and a half of transport and here I am at Narita Airport for a flight to Singapore Airlines anthology empty.

Link to photo album -> here