Gardens of Delight

It's 4 am, which is 6am to my body and I'm awake. May as well just go with the flow and get my room sorted out. I am staying here for the full trip, for me that equals travel bliss, no packing and unpacking. I have just realised there is an alcove in my room, which is very Japanese. I can make my very own shrine of shopping! 

The correct name for this space is Tokonoma
it's a recessed space for artistic appreciation.
So far on display is my day 1 shopping and the
lovely origami bird made by the cleaner 

My first trip to Tokyo was all about cherry blossoms, this trip is timed to see autumn leaves.  The only bit of research I have done is from the many gardens which ones to visit, I have picked one large and one small. 

So to kick off my first full day I am walking to Shinjuku Gyeon National Garden, it was once the estate of a shogun (ruler).

Shinjuku Gyeon National Garden,
an oasis in an urban jungle
It's big, 144 acres

Out into the sunshine I go, oops, already distracted I had planned to head directly west, but the sunshine on that building is amazing so let's walk this way, snap, snap, moving on. 

Oh, a man is putting out a sign that the post office is open, let's just nip in and get some stamps.

Hmm, sign language is needed and the super helpful guy is getting me two stamps to send postcards to Australia. Oh my, oh my, I wish I could have video on now to share this. He is separating each stamp one perforation at a time, each edge is perfect. This guy loves his job and is in the ideal career. Well, that detour took much longer than anticipated but was worth it to experience a real-world experience of Japanese perfectionism. I am going to have to at least stick the stamps on straight to honour his efforts!

Now onto the gardens, ticket paid, I'm in. Through the woodlands, down to the lake, there is a bird, what is it? I am too slow. No autumn leaves yet, oh, wow, there is a beautiful chrysanthemum display. The Chrysanthemum Festival is an annual event that was meant to finish yesterday but it's still going strong. Lucky me. Finally find the right path to the pavilion, now up to the avenue of trees. This garden has it all and hardly any people on a work day, just pensioners, a few birders and some kindergarten kids. Finally, I spot some maples turning red. Thats perfect. 

Part of the annual Chrysanthemum festival

Taiwan Pavilion reflections

First spot of red

Time for a break, this cafe looks nice. Oh oh, no English menus. They seem to have disappeared during the pandemic as well as confidence in speaking English. My 10 words of Japanese are not going to get me very far today. The girl in front of me is very excited, hmm, I will have what she's having. 

The end result:

The next garden is a train ride away, I have made it to the right station but there are two exits east and west and I have no idea which one I need. But I can see the direction I've gotta go. I point and have a half-English conversation with a man in a suit and he points to the correct exit. Phew. Arigatou gozaimasu! 

And here we are at Koishkawa Korakuen Gardens. It's much smaller, but oh so beautiful. Very traditional, with lots of history, I can just imagine 200 years ago, lovely ladies dressed in kiminos wandering the paths and reciting poetry. 

My lunch, udon noodles and seasonal vegetables	A bride and groom in traditional dress
My photo of the day  a lady dressed in autumn colours  (a very Japanese thing)	Photoshoot by random Japanese couple I met who wanted to practice talking English with me

 

Exhausted now, it's time to head back to base. 

A toursit can always fit in one more 'thing'. Next door to me is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building so lets go. It's massive, slightly Art Deco / Modern style, I assume it was built after World War II?  At the top is a free Observatory and that is my objective. I arrive as the sun is setting......

The day I discovered Godzilla, King Kong and the Suica Penguin

On this trip, I am staying in the Shinjuku area its the busiest area in all of Tokyo. I am on the west side, which is a little bit more civilised and known as the business side. I am surrounded by lots of tall office buildings. 

It's 9am, my room is sorted and my bag is dumped, it's raining and a bit cold but I am raring to go out into the streets of Tokyo and see what I can discover. First, let's get my bearings and head down to Shinjuku station. There are miles and miles of people walking towards me, everyone has masks and umbrellas and I am definitely heading against the tide. I am wearing a mask, it's a weird experience to put it back on as at home (Sydney, Australia) we have not been wearing masks for 6 months now. Actually, there is not as many people as I would expect, are they working from home in tiny Tokyo apartments I wonder?

Yeah, there is a pedestrian tunnel that leads most of the way to the station, that's going to be a bonus on rainy days. I have made it into the bowels of the station, It is a destination its its own right, with 35 platforms and 200 exits. It's often touted as the busiest train station in the world. There is a big bank of suica machines, time to recharge my travel card. Tick. The signage is fantastic, so it's time to head for the East Exit and my first mission.

Oh my god, is that a giant cat on top of a building? Yes, it's actually a digital screen looking like a hologram on top of the police station. It's advertising for tourists not to get scammed by call girls in this area. Very effective. Now back to my mission, I ran out of time on my last trip to find this uniquely Tokyo spectacle. It's Godzilla looking down from the top of a building. 

Now a lot of walking, fun and exploring:

Eating a Pokemon bun filled with custard

Stumbling across King Kong in a back street

Going crazy in the Hello Kitty store

Watching trains head south

Finding Suica Penguin,
the symbol for the 
travelcard I use

17,240 steps later I can declare this day is a slice of true Tokyo fun to get me back into the swing of international travel! 

One mission left for the day, the grocery store for some supplies. In one word, overwhelming. Plus now my card won't pay, this has happened many times today, they don't want to take cash, and don't like my Suica card either, things have changed since the pandemic, before cash was king. The store manager is a whiz and he sorts it out on the self-checkout counter. In hindsight I think the cashier did not want to serve me, just wanted me out of her lane? Time to head back to base. 

So many confusing options, feel like
 I am an intrepid explorer 
just for getting cereal and milk :)

First trip after the pandemic

Japan has announced it is reopening to visitors after being closed for nearly 3 years with the pandemic. So with short notice and little planning, I have booked a flight to Tokyo to reset my travel batteries. It has been quite a while since I have been on a flight, 984 days to be exact. The last time was the week 'toilet paper hoarding' started in Australia.

Time to wave goodbye to Stevie :( 

The airport is empty, there is only one person in front of me to do a passport check. And I have a whole security line all to myself. I've never seen it like this. Into Qantas club, got my favourite seat, and it's time to settle in. Now the messages start, Beck, Pita, Sue, and on and on. My Instagram account has been cloned and they are sending messages to everyone I know asking for money. Thankfully everyone figures out it's a fake, reports it and let's assume it's over. Who knows. 

The plane is an A330, it's new, it's clean and the entertainment systems have been upgraded. Its 10pm I am already tired but let's start off this overnight flight with a movie that right up my alley, Mrs Harris goes to Paris. It's lovely, set in the 1950s a cleaner in London goes to Paris to buy a Christian Dior dress. Now it's time to try to get some sleep, I struggle then I must finally fall asleep when we are nearly to Tokyo. The breakfast service wakes me up with a start, I swear I will never fly economy again. But I'm sure once I see the business class prices I will change my mind.

New plane, even smells nice

We land and it's 6am in the morning. After 10 hours of flying, I am glad to finally be here at Haneda airport. 

My first experience of back to masks

Walking, walking, walking it feels like immigration is miles away. Traffic jam, okay everyone needs to show their app with approval to enter Japan. Thankfully my Telstra connection is working and I'm all good to go given the magic piece of pink paper. Shuffle, shuffle and into the immigration line. About 100 people in front of me doesn't look too bad. That was a stupid assumption. Only five immigration points operating, and everyone confused about the new system, it takes nearly 2 hours to get out. Everyone has masks on. The silver lining to all this, it's all the bags have been lifted off the baggage carousel. So grab mine and now I have to go and do another form of identification. Done. I'm out. 

Big delays due to lots of paperwork
to prove you are vaccinated

Hop in a taxi, I get an old guy who can speak a little bit of English. 30 minutes later we are at the Hyatt. The Hyatt valet apologises that I had to travel in an old car. I say just the opposite, I love the retro look and he does some photos for me. :-)

My base for the trip, in West Shinjuku

Chasing Cicadas in Campbelltown

 

Looking like an alien, a Double Drummer emerges from its shell

As a kid, I remember the deafening sound of cicadas in summer. Somehow over the years, they have disappeared. However, in 2020 when everything was upside down and back to front the cicadas reemerged from their underground burrows to mate, sing and repopulate. The noise levels were intense. We have had hours of fun tramping through the local bush discovering all kinds from the smallest amber tail to the large double drummers. The only problem was keeping an eye out for snakes, they were everywhere sunning themselves on rocks and slithering through the leaves. 

We participated in ‘The Great Cicada Blitz’ a citizen science project to record what species we discovered. The project is run by Dr Nathan Emery and thanks to his useful identification book and the iNaturalist community we managed to identify many of our discoveries.

One of the smaller types, an Ambertail, sounds like electricity humming

Learning how to record sounds

We watched this one emerge,
at this stage, it is letting its wings dry

On this day at Appin, we found a rarer morph
 of the Green Grocer, a Yellow Monday

Yellow Monday

Eastern Double Drummer

Stephen getting the best shots

Literally, thousands of cicadas emerged

My watch kept giving me noise warnings,
90 decibels is equivalent to a blender

Redeyes were the most common in our area

One of the many snakes we encountered,
this one is a Red-bellied black snake

The bush was lush and green from all the recent rain

Some of the different sizes, from 10-50mm

Chasing cicadas on our wedding anniversary

The final leg

Why does this happen every year????

Mary (Jane's Mum) came to say good-bye

Final lunch in Ladywell, smashed avocado
was delicious (so Aussie!)

Made it to Heathrow

Doing some shopping
for a VIP (not me!)

I am now at Heathrow airport waiting for my plane to take me home. After burning the candle at both ends for 2 weeks it’s time for 24 hours of rest. Here are a few of the other quirky experiences from this trip:

• saw the International Space Station fly over in the dark skies of Provence
• spotted three Miniature Schnauzers in Brighton
• brought 2 presents for Stephen and 3 for Rosco, oops
• scored 20+ inside-outside postcards to add to the collection
• Walked an average of 13,888 steps a day
• survived a London heatwave (just)

A big thanks to Jane for the fun times, symbolism spotting, photo snapping and giggling (and my boss James for sending me!).

Flowers for a fiver

Upstairs, front window on the 47 to Shoreditch 

Another new area of London to explore

The first stall is amazing

One of the many flowers sellers with lots of
characters, ladies, ladies, ladies, I will
satisfy you.....with my flowers

Peonies only flower for 3 weeks
of the year, how lucky to see
so many colours

Hydrangeas were very popular

Cash only at many stalls

Jane and I trying to make it through the throng of people 

Checking out the street art
in Shoreditch

Mariage Freres,
a bit fancy and very nice

We are off on the 47 bus to Shoreditch and the top front seat is free, score. Lets sit back and enjoy the ride through the back streets to our chosen destination, the Columbia Road Flower Markets.

We must be getting closer there is a man with a shopping trolly full of sunflowers. Ok there is a hustle and bustle of people this must be it. Sunflowers galore, immense numbers of people (the markets are only on for a few hours each Sunday) let’s dive in. I don’t know where to look first, roses on the right, lavender on the left. But what I like best are the flower sellers screaming out, ‘Look what can you get for a fiver, love’ in a broad London accent. 

We are at the hydrangeas, a lady wants two blue and one pink. The flower man screws up his nose but selects the nicest ones with a flourish, then puts it together and shows her. You can tell he is not happy with this colour selection and she realises all is not right. He suggests a change to one pink, one blue, one purple and it looks divine. She is happy and he says, ‘you can only trust a man to pick your flowers’. It must be his standard line, but a very funny moment for the crowd. 

On we go, getting pushed and shoved by the crowd of flower buyers. The peonies are so colourful I want to eat them. We later learn that peonies only flower for 3 weeks of the year and we saw them at their peak. Another lucky encounter on the tourist trail.

This market is the best I have ever been to in London and gives a real slice of what life must have been like when everyone shopped at markets for most of their food and goods.

On we go now to the local shops dotted behind the market, more inside-outside cards. Score. What's this? A pet section at the back of Hiro and wolf, Rosco might like this collar, or a lead, or oh be still my beating heart he just has to have one of these scarves. Calm down there are many more shops to go. This gallery looks a bit funky, let's take a look, wow, hummingbirds, street art, political statements I feel like I am at the summer exhibition. We both like every piece in Nelly Duff.

Time for some sustenance, brie bagel and a mug of tea. Very Shoreditch. Now, lets check out the street art, new pieces by a Lewisham based artist, Nathan Bowen. Finally, its time to head back to the other side as someone has been promising me a chocolate eclair since last week. Well, maybe I have just been saying I want a chocolate eclair for the last 2 weeks after we poked our heads in Mariage Freres in Covent Garden.

Convent Garden has the usual fun going on there is a particularly good entertainer, painted in silver and dressed like Thor who is throwing his sword at all the ladies from 8 to 80 and getting selfies with them. He is amazing, the looks he can do on his face, sad, happy, sexy, all in a matter of seconds. But we must move on.

Ok, let's escape into this French tea emporium and see if it is as good as it looks. The verdict is a resounding YES.