In which Layla and Roz hike far and visit an art island

By Layla

Our last blog saw us ensconced in a charming house in the mountains along the Kumano Kodo trail feeling very happy indeed. My personal happiness was challenged the following day: a nine hour mountainous hike to our final destination PLUS a forecast of rain? I was unimpressed... Still, it turned out to be a lovely day with only an hour or so of rain (though I must say shaving three hours and a bit of altitude would have deeply improved it!). Up and down and up and up we went, cursing our inadequate chocolate supplies and loving the welcome displays made of plantpots, flowers, and random junk that the locals had erected in their gardens for Kumano Kodo walkers. Again, we saw hardly any other walkers along this brilliant, beautifully signposted epic walk (and, alas, no chocolate shops) and for the final few miles I could hardly persuade my legs to keep moving. Then finally, when I'd just about lost hope and decided to live forever in the woods, the path brought us to a road and an onsen and the end of our trek.

I collapsed gratefully on the first available pavement, near a 90 degree celsius stream where people were surreally boiling and eating eggs... The chocolate shop had just closed, and when we asked the location of our hotel, a man pointed up a long, winding uphill road and my legs wept in hopeless sorrow. And so, we trudged off. Moments later, a van slowed down and asked if we wanted a lift. I threw myself in, thanking the Kumano Kodo gods, and looked in smug sympathy as other walkers trekked up a horribly steep incline while Roz and I were conveyed in glorious luxury.

The ryokan (Japanese inn) that we stayed at was our first, and it was a great start to the genre. Especially when its Haagen Dazs ice cream machine came into view! Shoes off and replaced by slippers, I could barely drag myself up the one flight of stairs to our lovely room where our luggage awaited us. Gosh I love the Japanese luggage forwarding service. That and the heated toilet seats may be my two most favourite things about Japan so far! Anyway, we changed into special dressing gowns and descended to the hotel onsen for our first Japanese onsen experience. Very similar to our past South Korea hot baths/spa experiences, we scrub ourselves vigorously with soap and shampoo etc until sparkling clean while sitting on tiny stools (which one day I fear I will break), then once properly pristine, we step into the very hot mineral waters of the onsen pool. In this place there was both an outside option and an inside one. My muscles approved, even though my skin felt it was being boiled...

Duly onsened, we returned to our room in time for a Japanese woman to set up a huge table in it and proceed to serve us about a thousand courses of fantastic vegetarian Japanese food. Definitely the best Japanese food we've had so far, and ridiculously copious - and in our own bedroom! Afterwards she removed the table and replaced it with two cozy futon beds. I'd rather not admit what time I made us go to sleep but let's just say I was quite tired and Roz didn't get to play ping pong in the hotel bar that evening as she'd hoped!

Up early the next day (after a 10 hour sleep!) I felt rejuvenated. A 2 hour bus and 3 hour train journey later, and we waved goodbye to all things mountainous and hello to the next part of our adventure: the Inland Sea. We were staying in the small city of Okayama mainly as reasonably convenient access to tomorrow's destination, the island of Naoshima (the Naoshima hotel was fully booked). We hadn't expected to love Okayama... But of course we did! What a delightful place. The whole city is full of flower shops and hipster coffeeshops and wine bars. The fancy street with Chanel and Tiffany's etc was punctuated with charming Alice in Wonderland statues. And then we walked down to the river and found sweeping views of the local castle, people on swan-shaped pedal boats, fantastic riverside walking paths full of locals and their dogs, and one of Japan's most famous gardens. We bought ice cream and tickets and strolled in the beautiful garden, which was such a delight. Then we found ourselves at the preparations for a festival or cherry blossom viewing or something and particularly enjoyed the local goths settling down under a very goth-themed tent in full regalia. But we had to head back to the hotel, to meet Mari, a Japanese woman introduced to us by a mutual friend, who happened to live in Okayama. We had a completely lovely evening in a Japanese restaurant/izakaya talking literature, international law, and about our experiences in Glasgow where she did her PhD. Small world indeed!

The next day was our principal reason for being in Okayama: the Trienialle. Forget Venice's Bienialle - the place to be for exciting contemporary art is a collection of little islands in Japan's Inland Sea. The jewel in the Trienalle crown is Naoshima, an island which is a contemporary art destination year-round, with an incongruous number of amazing art museums and outdoor sculptures. We caught the boat from Uno, clutching our official Trienalle passports. (Another thing I love about Japan: an enthusiasm to reward visiting certain places with a commemorative stamp.) The Trienniale passport has over 200 places to stamp, and Naoshima would provide more than 20 of these. We hired electric bikes and zoomed off for what would prove to be a delightful and truly unique experience.

Following our official map, we tracked down art installations all over the island, all brandishing the official stamp. We went into 'art houses' full of mirrors, a giant statue of liberty, subtle magnolia flowers made of magnolia wood, and my favourite, a dark room with a sunken square pond in the middle, with glowing numbers in it. A really interesting collection of art. And an exceptional lunch of vegetarian curry followed by scones at arty cafe Apron (Paper). Then it was out to the famous giant pumpkin on the beach and the year-round art museums for which a large part of the art is the integration with the cliffside location and truly intriguing architecture. We praised our electric bikes as we soared high above the sea to some of the more obscure installations, then zoomed back down to the port to reward our efforts in an arty onsen! Great fun.

We had dinner in a charming Italian brasserie last night and packed our bags before waving them off this morning on another luggage forwarding service. Hopefully we will be reunited tomorrow in Onomichi. Between now and then, farewell to lovely Okayama, a 2-hour train ride, and a 70 km cycle across the Inland Sea. Wish us luck... 

In which Roz and Layla take to the hills and become the Speedy McCampions

By Roz

After our successful Nara day trip we had a lengthy but ultimately highly successful session making loads of train reservations for the rest of our trip in an extravaganza of Japanese language use (including a comedy scenario where they told us a particular train was sold out, then realised I was in fact a girl despite having short hair, and were able to allocate us to special ‘lady’s seats’), we had planned to go to a fab sounding izakaya (Japanese pub) which was enthusiastic about vegetables.  Unfortunately we weren’t quite fabulous enough for it (I blame our fleeces and hiking boots) and couldn’t get a seat.  So to our shame, we ended up in an excellent pizza joint (which we very much enjoyed) and reassured ourselves vigorously that since we live here there’s no obligation to have Japanese food for every meal…  Our final stop of the evening was a delightful wine bar.  I’d read about it in a guide book and, after a few false turns and a bit of detective work and a long stroll down a street of sordid lady bars (hopefully not the same thing as lady seats on the train), felt very pleased with ourselves indeed to be on the fourth floor of an unmarked building drinking pinot noir and delighting in the black and white film that was playing silently (a film I know I’ve seen and felt most cross with myself for not remembering the name of – my mother would never have forgiven me). We felt very cool. Well, other than Layla trying to steal all the chocolate coins that were inexplicably on the bartop… The place was called Akibako Hanare in case anyone else wants to try hunting it down…  

Next morning we had a slow start, since Layla decided – like the hero she is – to finally embrace the challenging issue of making our phones work in Japan without the delightful portable wifi device that our Kyoto apartment provided us with, in advance of our post-Kyoto travels. We were amused that the SIM card kit included not just a special piece of cardboard sporting a beautiful Japanese scene which it encouraged us to display in our home, but also origami paper and instructions on how to make a crane.  This accomplished (the SIM activation, not the crane construction) – much to my surprise – we decided to head out on a hike. 

Described in the guidebooks as one of the top five hikes in Kyoto, we were mystified at the paucity of practical information online about the Takao to Hozukyo riverside hike.  And after multiple buses, ending in a bus terminal in the middle of nowhere, we reached the trailhead and were bemused by the paucity of people.  Usually when I say that kind of thing, my next sentence reveals the reason why no-one else is doing what we are (usually we are doing something silly that everyone else turns out to be too sensible to do).  But bizarrely, this didn’t prove to be the case in this instance.  It was a lovely walk along a river – mainly flat, gloriously scenic, and entirely delightful.  We paused for lunch and felt super happy at the prospect of lots of delightful hiking in our future life in Japan. 

The hike didn’t take us as long us the guidebook said (clearly they’ll be calling us Speedy McCampions) and so as we stepped off the train back into Kyoto we mused on our best plan.  In the end, the lure of a super cool coffee shop which the author of a Kanji learning website (which we are devoted to – to the extent that one can be devoted to a method of learning Kanji) had recommended.  This proved to be in an uber obscure location involving a train and a wander down an alley which turned out to mainly have tiny warehouses selling plants but which also had a warehouse / industrial space that was also a coffee shop called Clamp / Cramp (the name depended on which sign you looked at).  Coffee, orange juice and muffins consumed, and hipster coffee vendors with dungarees, beards, and the like duly appreciated, and a little read of our books later, and we set off on the (substantial) walk back to our corner of Kyoto, Gion.  And then, time to pack (a more substantial task than one would think since we seem to have brought more things than are strictly necessary and had thrown them all up in the air in a whirl of jetlag).

Post packing we went to a different wine bar for a speedy dinner before what unexpectedly proved to be the highlight of our trip to Kyoto: the illuminations.  Lots of temples in Kyoto are lit up in the evening at certain times of the year, and every night of our stay we had half planned to go and explore an illuminated temple – and then had got distracted by delicious food or some such.  It was fun to walk up a low-lit temple staircase and into the temple complex.  There was a special lighted path to follow which took us past beautiful trees, tasteful shrine lights, and then into a special area where they had a protected moving illumination show which was a clearly a famous traditional tale related to the temple (alas one I didn’t know), involving dragons and the like.  It was so lovely that I watched it three times before Layla managed to drag me away (humph).  It felt magical to continue walking on the temple path through the woods - including an illuminated bamboo mini-forest  - as though at any moment an old lady would pop out from behind a tree and offer me three wishes. 

Next morning, we were up early for a train to the depths of the Japanese countryside for a three-day hike on an old pilgrimage trail, called the Kumano Kodo, sister to the Camino de Santiago in Spain.  I felt simultaneously excited and fearful.  Excited because it sounded fab.  Fearful because I wasn’t absolutely sure that walking into the Japanese countryside would necessarily end up with us finding the guesthouses we’d booked since I’d shunned the offer of a guide plus I was anxious that all the uphills would defeat my lovely wife (who has a penchant for walking on the flat).  All my anxieties turned out to be nonsense.  The brilliant tourist office gave us all the information that we could want and put us on a bus to the right place to start the hike.  Even better, they gave us a card to collect stamps to show the different shrines we’ve visited and the joy of the collecting experience has almost made Layla forget her lack of enthusiasm for going up hills.  And even better than that, when we got off the bus we were greeted by a very enthusiastic, waving Japanese man holding a card with my name on it: our luggage service for the next three days.  It turns out I love a luggage service.  A wee man pops up at the start of the walk, takes your luggage and deposits it in your accommodation and then keeps popping up every time you don’t want your luggage and transports it.  Hooray. 

The walk was short on our first day – only a couple of hours – and took us through cedar forests and past shrines.  Every now and then there’s a tasteful sign to (a) tell you that you are going the right way and (b) provide some information about a random pilgrim from the 1100s who had a particular experience in that spot which meant it’s been named after him.  All charming.  And can I mention again how much we both love collecting the shrine stamps?  It feels like a reward.  (I think I shall tell my next set of Japanese teachers to opt for a system of gold stars / stamps if they want me to cooperate!)  We meandered into the tiny village in which we were staying and found our accommodation without difficulty.  The nice owner (whose English was even worse than our Japanese, which is saying something) showed us round our mansion.  Somehow I’d managed to book us into a giant and beautiful Japanese-style house with what seemed like endless rooms, tatami mats, tasteful Japanese decorations.  Indeed, for our whole time there I kept asking Layla if she remembered where x room was…  Our nice landlady had said she’d take us to a supermarket a bit later, so I went into one of the many beautiful rooms and did some yoga whilst gazing at the sweeping views of rolling hills. 

Brilliantly, I forced Layla into the front seat when we drove to the supermarket, meaning the burden of small talk fell on her.  (Am still smug about this manoeuvre.)  I bought a random collection of things for dinner (the nice landlady was palpably bemused about what on earth I was going to do with the items – a concern I kind of shared).  I then whipped up a fairly pleasant dinner and felt pleased with myself for having cooked for the first time in my new home country. 

I’d anticipated that the villages we would be staying in on this walk might not be that hip hop and happening (as Layla’s mother would say) and brought some DVDs with us as a precaution in the event of them lacking an array of sophisticated entertainment.  So we spent the evening watching Made in Dagenham huddled under a Japanese electric blanket (they don’t go in for central heating and we’re in the mountains!).  A thoroughly successful day. 

This morning, we woke after a surprisingly comfortable sleep on tatami mats and futons (which is how Japanese people traditionally sleep).  When I say surprising, I should perhaps note that I had used three futons, whereas no Japanese person would ever use more than one so perhaps it shouldn’t be that surprising.  The princess and the pea lives again…  Having had a little yoghurt and coffee for breakfast, I cunningly went to do some yoga in the same beautiful room (necessitating Layla to do some packing).  Our nice luggage man turned up – this time brandishing a sweet Union Jack origami crane that he’d made for us (and instructions on how we could also create such an item).  We were even more charmed and set off on our walk giggling with cheeriness. 

Today’s walk was even lovelier than yesterday’s.  Less uphill and past lots of babbling brooks and such like.  There are hardly any people on the route, which seems insane given how beautiful it is, but which adds to its charm.  We stopped numerous times for snacks and such like but still ended up at today’s stopping point surprisingly early (the Speedy McCampions strike again).  Today’s accommodation is also a mansion (I’m not exactly sure how this ended up being what I booked, but never mind!).  It has a beautiful garden with a little water feature and so we spent the afternoon sat out there reading (me) and applying for a job (poor Layla).  I interrupted my reading of Wilkie Collins’ Armadale with a brief cycle to the shops to ensure we have sufficient provisions for the evening.  The bike was one of those little old lady upright bikes with a basket on the front and I felt a strange combination of Miss Marple and a Japanese lady going about her business as I did so…  And now, as I type this, I’m sat at the kitchen table in our mansion as dusk falls and wondering how I can be so lucky as to be having so much fun.  Hooray for #thelonghello and #mccampionsmeetJapan.

In which Layla and Roz go on holiday to their new home country - Japan!

By Layla

The journey to Heathrow Airport was a momentous one. Not just the glorious prospect of a much-needed three week delicious holiday. Not just that we were going to the rather thrilling destination of Japan. But that after our holiday ends, we won't be getting back on the plane, but instead moving into a flat in Tokyo, our imminent hometown for the next several years. No pressure, Japan holiday...

The horribly long flight was rendered charming by the treat of flying business class and getting to sleep properly (after toasting our Japanese future with a glass of champagne of course). And soon enough we were in Tokyo. Or the airport anyway, showering in a capsule hotel! Everything was beautifully neat and clean and not that terrifying - yet. We picked up our rail passes with no problems and resolved that for the next three weeks we would resolutely be tourists. And so, showered and rail passes in hand, we boarded the train into Tokyo - and straight out again! We'd decided to leave Tokyo for last, and make our first stop Kyoto. That meant our first bullet train (a bit like a British train), our first bento box (packed lunch - lots of gelatinous items in different shapes and colours plus some tasty pickles) and our first speedy glimpses of Japan (eeek).

It took a while to find our AirBnB apartment in Kyoto, in the heart of Gion, a geisha district with umpteen pretty temples and shrines - in fact we had to walk through a shrine to get to our flat! Which turned out to be quiet, spacious, attractive, and just the thing for two jet lagged girls. Still, undeterred by time confusion, we headed out to walk through ridiculously quaint cobbled type streets lit by paper lanterns and flanked by illuminated temples, with many women adorned in kimonos. Our seven months of Japanese language study was almost vindicated when upon our hunt for a particular restaurant, we identified its name in Japanese characters! It was like we were in a massive game where everything was in code and we'd just decoded the first answer. We sat down to an extravagant vegetarian multi-course meal to celebrate, and finished the evening with a triumphant sake in a cool little cocktail bar with amazing ice globes instead of cubes. A triumphant first day.

Both of us were awake at silly hours (and eating Roses chocolates at 4am) and cursing jetlag. But we had managed a fair amount of sleep and soon we were off on a short train to Arashiyama. This area is famous for its temples, its bamboo forest and its 'romantic railway'. And we were ready to indulge in all three! We strolled along the paths through long, thin, extremely tall bamboo stalks, through a park, and into a hipster coffeeshop, before having a hilarious multi-course vegan lunch on tatami mats in a fancy temple. As you do... Afterwards we strolled through the beautiful, ancient temple gardens and lamented for the first of a billion times that we have slightly mistimed our trip to miss the blooming of the cherry blossoms, a highlight of the year for Japanese people... We then headed to the romantic railway, which we had assumed would be something silly but it turned out to be extremely popular with about a thousand different branded souvenirs on sale. A country who gets as excited as we do about a romantic railway? Maybe we were home after all...

The railway wound through hills and along a beautiful river (lined by naked cherry blossom trees) while a man in an alarming kabuki mask discussed the Scottish referendum with us - unexpected... Afterwards we returned to Kyoto and headed to the more modern downtown area for coffee and cake in a hipster coffeeshop called Hello Bibliotheque. It was suitably pretentious and we felt rather relieved that we would be consuming things other than gelatinous squares while in Japan. Though I was disturbed to see a woman eating what appeared to be dessert spaghetti... Afterwards we headed to a fancy tofu restaurant to meet Tomomi, the girl I stayed with while in Tokyo aged 19 long long ago. We had a fun dinner and chat and lots of delicious tofu (and acquired a name for the gelatinous items in all our meals: fuu). It was quite surreal to be meeting someone I know for dinner as though we were all in a perfectly unalarming place!

We were delighted to be on a bike tour first thing the following day. As well as stretching our bike legs (in anticipation of major demands next week...), he took us down ridiculously scenic backstreets, along canals, past notable temples and Kyoto's Imperial Palace, along the river, and fed us special mochi sweets wrapped in cherry tree leaves or some such from a tiny factory shop that had a huge queue despite seeming to be in the middle of nowhere. We spent the afternoon having a delicious Western-style lunch, strolling around the downtown area, and marvelling over the cost of various fruit and vegetables in a department store. The best we found was an £80 melon. We finished off with more cake (well, for me) at Cafe Independants, apparently the most hippy-ish cafe in Kyoto, in a bohemian art deco building.

That night, en route along a scenic canal to a hip Japanese izakaya (bar with food) our attention was fatally captured by a restaurant called Avocado. Our cravings for Mexican food reared and we had a fun dinner, with only a few odd things (like my sort-of-misguided ordering of avocado-flavoured frozen cream cheese starter). Afterwards we started hunting for a nice bar but got diverted by Round One: a huge bowling alley.

I have a weakness for bowling. But my Japanese skills were stretched as I tried to order appropriately. Soon though we were successfully allocated a lane, learned our Japanese shoe sizes, and received them by pressing a button like a vending machine - startling! Hard to say whether I more enjoyed winning extravagantly with my highest ever score (128!) or dressing up as a lady skittle, complete with little Scottish kilt with panties flashing... This is exactly what I'd ever hoped of Japanese bowling! Great fun.

The following day was time for our first hike. We took a hilarious tiny train with window-facing seats into the mountains surrounding Kyoto for a really delightful, picturesque little hike across the mountains from Kurama to Kibune. A bit steep at times, but totally charming, with towering trees and lots of temples and shrines. Afterwards I skillfully negotiated a couple of bowls of vegetarian ramen from a local restaurant before heading back into Kyoto.

We got off the train at the river and did a half hour stroll, at one point hilariously crossing the river using stones for the purpose that had been placed precariously far apart. We enjoyed people using the riverside park to practice complex group dances, juggling, Tai Chi, and then veered to Hello Bibliotheque for coffee and cake and a dose of pretentious hipster vibes. Fabulous!

Dinner last night was Nepalese, in a sweet little restaurant that sated our paneer cravings, and we followed it up with drinks (Roz) and dessert (me) in a cool bookshop/music shop/bar where I couldn't resist ordering the spaghetti dessert thing. Thankfully (though also disappointingly) it turned out to be a perfectly tasty ice-cream-ish dessert.

This morning it was time for another daytrip: to Nara! Known for its park, temples and deer, this ancient Japan capital has always been on our to-see list. And it was quite good. We had a tasty lunch in a nice coffeeshop, then strolled through the touristy throngs to admire various impressive temples, and of course the umpteen deer which, as promised, do indeed appear to bow when you give them food. Very Japanese! We spent a lovely half hour lying in the sun reading our books by a charming pond, and an even more charming five minutes demolishing some excellent ice cream. Then we went on a big walk through the park and down sidestreets and my plan to visit the museum of mechanical toys was foiled by it being closed today: humph! So it was back on the train, from where I am typing this epistle, and we'll soon be home to Kyoto.