Diary
Dubai Japan Hong
Kong
March 7, 2017
Flew to Dubai and
arrived at midnight.
March 8, 2017
Niels Kristian is
working so I have been alone most of the day.
1.
I
took the metro to Burj Khalifa. At two p.m. started a tour to the observation
deck.
2.
Dubai
Aquarium is placed in the Dubai Mall. This center is ten times Lyngby center.
3.
Ate
dinner with N.K. on a restaurant with a view to the Dubai Fountain.
March 9, 2017
I am still on my
own while N.K. is working. The only point on the agenda for today is Desert
Safari and it is starting in the afternoon. I have tried this before, but this
time we did not see any Oryx Antelopes.
The entertainment
at the dinner was one belly dancer and a Dervish dancer (male).
March 10, 2017
N. K. were free
today, and we drove up north through the emirates north and east of Dubai. We
went all the way to the mountains close to the coast of the Indian Ocean. Apart
from Dubai we went through
1.
Sharjah
2.
Ajman
3.
Umm
Al Quwain
4.
Ras-Al-Khaima
In five of the seven
emirates making UAE. N.K. bought wine in a liquor store and we had lunch at a
place near the gulf coast.
March 11,2017
The flight to
Japan left at midnight at 03:20 hours. We landed in Osaka airport at 17:10. It
took one and a half hour to reach the hotel in Kyoto. I went to bed after arrival.
Our hotel lies close to the south west corner of the Imperial Park and right
next to a metro station.
March 12, 2017
Sightseeing with
our guide in Kyoto
1.
Kinkaku-ji
or the Golden Temple, where I try to take new pictures. I have been here
before.
2.
Nijo
castle, with plum trees in blossom but no cherries yet. I was here before.
3.
Nishiki
food market for the first time. Then back to the hotel for a sleep.
4.
Meeting
at the Yasaka shrine. Walking around in the Gion district.
5.
Shabushabu
and Sukiaki dinner at a restaurant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabu-shabu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukiyaki
6.
I
had more energy and went alone in the Maryama Park where many rice paper
lanterns were lit.
March 13, 2017
Free day
1.
Fushimi
inari-Taisha Shrine. The shrine lies at the foot of the Inari mountain. A
footpath with thousands of vermilion tori gates leading to the top of the
mountain. It took a couple of hours to walk the tour and back again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fushimi_Inari-taisha
. Many places I saw statues of the mythological fox Kitsune. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitsune
.
2.
During
the afternoon, I visited the Kyomisudera temple and then I was very tired. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu-dera
.
March 14, 2017
Excursion to Nara
with train. We made a walking tour around the city
1.
Three
story pagoda.
2.
Todaji
temple with the Great Buddha Statue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8Ddai-ji
.
3.
Kasuga
Taisha shrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasuga-taisha
with the many stone lanterns. Everywhere in the city there are green areas with
wild Sika Deer’s.
4.
We
went around a lake in the center of town before we went back to the railway
station.
5.
Back
in Kyoto we visited (again) the Kyomisudera temple this time with a dragon
festival.
6.
Japanese
tea ceremony in a private home.
7. Om
aftenen izakaya diner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izakaya
.
March 15, 2017
This was the day
when the rest of the group took the bullet train to Hiroshima. I stayed alone
in Kyoto. I went to Hiroshima last time I was here.
1.
Arashiyama
Monkey park lies in the outskirts of Kyoto. If you take the right local train
you end within walking distance from the park. It was raining almost all day.
You follow a path up to a viewpoint at the top and here you find the monkeys.
Here you encage the humans and let the monkeys look at us from the outside. You
can only feed them this way through the window grill. If you go outside feeding
is prohibited.
2.
Back
in town I decided to visit the Shimogamo shrine in the northern part of the
city. The main building was under reconstruction and you could not get into the
building.
March 16, 2017
The train to
Takayama lasted four hours
1.
Tour
in the city with our guide. We visited Hida Kokubunji temple with a huge Ginko
Biloba tree in the yard.
2.
Later
we visited Hida Folk Village, an open-air museum. There were many buildings
from 16 centuries with thatched roofs. In all living houses, there were open
fireplaces. It has been real fire traps. There were many small houses with fire
engines scattered around.
3.
We
had dinner at our hotel this evening.
March 17, 2017
Free day to
explore the city.
1.
Myagawa
morning market lies along the river. They sell mainly food.
2.
Sanmachi
quarter with old traditional houses still inhabited.
3.
Takayama
Festival Floats Exhibitions. Both the hall and the nearby shrine were closed.
4.
Takayama
Jinja is an old administration building from the EDO period. The local governor
lived here.
5.
In
the evening, I got a hot bath in the Onsen in the hotel (Hot Spring)
March 18, 2017
1.
Train
from Takayama to Nagiso
2.
Shift
to a bus that drove us to a double waterfall in the middle of a forest.
3.
Hike
along a path to the village of Tsumago. Along the road there were small bells
hanging. A poster told us that they should be used to scare bears away. We
didn’t see any. Tsumago is very touristic with cafeterias and souvenir shops
and old-fashioned houses.
4.
Bus
from Tsumago back to the station and train to Matsumoto.
March 19, 2017
1.
We
visited Matsumoto Castle in the morning. There were many tourists mainly
Japanese and our group was split.
2.
Train
from Matsumoto to Nagano and shift to local train to Obuse. Here we had free
time to walk around the city. I visited an art museum for the Japanese painter
Katushika Hokusai. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokusai He lived in the end of the EDO period and he
had profound influence on the French impressionists.
3.
Train
from Obuse to Youdanaka where we were checked into a traditional guesthouse.
This house was very different from the guest house I visited on my first time
in Japan. It was a high rise building with many rooms and the bath was at the
end of an underground corridor.
March 20, 2017
1.
Morning
trip to Jigokudani-koen where the monkeys bathe in the hot springs. There were
many tourists mainly Japanese. Bus back to the station.
2.
Train
to Nagano and shift to Shinkansen for Tokyo. We live near Suidobachi station
north of the Imperial Palace.
3.
Tour
with our guide around Harajuku.
4.
Tokyo
Metropolitan Government building with an observation deck.
5.
Night
trip in Shinjuku with light, neon advertisements and plenty of people. It was
overwhelming.
March 21, 2017
Free day to
explore the city. My planned tour to Hakone was cancelled due to rain.
1.
I
started at the Meji shrine in the Yoyogi park. I didn’t make it last time.
2.
I
went to the great Sumo Hall close to the Ryogoku station. Unfortunately, there
were no Sumo Wrestling when I was there.
3.
After
sunset, I went back to Shinjuku to make a film about the night life there.
There were not so many people because of the rainy weather.
March 22, 2017
1.
Shinjuku
Gyon National Garden is Tokyo’s Botanical Garden. We went around here alone for
an hour. The cherry trees were finally in their start of blossom. We are too
early to see full blossom.
2.
Uena
Park and Ameiyoko market was next on our agenda for the rest of the day. We had
a short guided tour and went alone afterwards.
3.
In
the evening Gyo Kaku barbeque dinner.
March 23, 2017
I tried Hakone on
my own. It was overcast when I arrived and it was impossible to see Mt. Fuji. I
came another way this time. I traveled by train and at last by cable car. There
were many people there mainly Japanese. Several places there were vapor exhaust
from volcanic activity.
In the evening, we
had farewell dinner for the group.
March 24, 2017
Departure from
Japan. I left Tokyo and 43 – 47 degrees F and arrived in Hong Kong at 72
degrees F. I made a mistake choosing to take a taxi to my hotel. Cost 2850 HK$.
There are reasonable express trains to central places in town and it is
cheaper.
March 25, 2017
My hotel runs a
shuffle bus to the downtown area. Here I bought a ticket to a double-decker bus
that runs a sightseeing tour in the city. You can jump on and off on the same
ticket. I choose a tour around the Hong Kong island.
In the afternoon,
I took the cable car “the peak tram” up to a viewpoint on top of a tower. I had
to wait in a queue for one hour to get on the tram. The view from the top was
not good. The weather was misty.
March 26, 2017
1.
Visited
Che Kung Temple placed in a northern suburb. Build to honor a general from the
Song dynasty.
2.
Saw
Hong Kong Maritime Museum placed close to the big Ferris wheel.
3.
Ocean
Park was an amusement park with a very long queue before the entrance. I did
not enter.
4.
Ocean
view was a commuter town with high rise buildings. There was no ocean view
(maybe from the top of the buildings)
March 27, 2017
1.
Visited
the Walled City and the park behind.
2.
I
took the express train from Kowloon station to the airport. You can check in
your baggage for the flight right at the station.
March 28, 2017
1.
The
plane to Dubai left 00:35
2.
In
Dubai, I had to wait for more the three hours for the plane to Copenhagen. I
sent an e-mail to N.K.
1.