Japan: The Food Post

This is the post you've all been waiting for - tales of eating in Japan! As mentioned before, this trip was different from most we've taken due to the activity to eating ratio, but we still managed to fit in a lot of food-related activities!  If you haven't been to Japan, you might think we had sushi for every meal, but I don't even think we had it our first 3 days there.  We ate lots of noodles and ramen and katsu and all kinds of things!

Clockwise from top left: Conveyor belt sushi and sake tasting - watch out for the whale; a restaurant designed around a fake sumo ring; seafood breakfast at our hotel in Asakusa in Tokyo; a pancake cooking right in the middle of our table

We also saw a lot of very strange foods - including boob shaped pastries and raw horse meat. And don't forget - there's always money in the banana stand.

There are a few meals in particular that stand out - kaiseki at Rion, the cooking class we took and our dinner at the New York Grill in the Park Hyatt Tokyo (which Rob will tell you more about later).  However, our most memorable meal was the one we had in a tiny hole in the wall in Kyoto, where the menu was "whatever the chef feels like cooking tonight."

Dinner at Rion

Kaiseki is a Japanese style haute cuisine meal, and usually involves multiple courses, like a tasting menu.  We were able to make reservations at Rion in Kyoto, which is a two-star Michelin kaiseki in Gion.

I'm not sure what all we ate, but everything was amazing - and the champagne sorbet for dessert was divine!  Bottom left is one of the dishes - a whole fish grilled over rice.  We were right at the counter so could watch everything being made.

Cooking with Emi

Our second to last night in Kyoto we met up with Emi for a lesson in Japanese cooking. She took us into her home and taught us some tradition Japanese recipes and methods (including cooking with chopsticks), as well as a lot about the ingredients.

As shown in the top right, Emi clapped excitedly whenever we did the tiniest thing sort of correctly - she was very enthusiastic. Made me miss my grandmother!  We made tuna sushi rolls, a veggie salad with sesame paste dressing, waygu beef rolls and strawberry mochi!

Kitchen Rakuraku

Our last night in Kyoto we stayed at Shunko-in Temple in Northwest Kyoto, and were recommended to eat at Kitchen Rakuraku, which means "easy easy" in Japanese. This turned out to be the best night we spent in Japan. The restaurant is very small - just one bar lined up along the kitchen - with seating for 10-12 people. When you arrive, the chef, Akira, hands you a piece of paper that says "is there anything you can't eat dislike food?" You let him know what you don't want, and he puts together something you will.

The food itself is out of this world, but the entire experience was magical. We spent hours sitting at the bar and chatting to Akira (he speaks English) and our fellow patrons - almost all of whom were also staying in the temple. My only regret is that we didn't discover it earlier in our trip - we would have been back there every night asking for something new.

If you pass the doorway pictured in the top left, stop in for the best culinary experience in Japan. The middle right picture shows our chef - and the view from our seat - you can tell everything is going to be delicious because of how messy the kitchen is. Bottom right - our chef smoking in the kitchen. He was also drinking some kind of Japanese potato liquor. Akira is a legend.

Tsukiji Fish Market

The fish market in Tokyo is a "must do," so we headed down there with all the other tourists on our second to last day in Japan. Tourists aren't allowed in the main market until after 9am, but there was still plenty going on. It didn't smell the best, and I should probably burn the shoes I was wearing, but the sushi we got for breakfast after was the freshest sushi I've ever had.

At the fish market - top middle is what I like to call a fish sword. Because some of the fish were too big for mere knives.

Drinking tea

As an avid tea drinker, I was really looking forward to the Japanese tea scene - and I was not disappointed!  We experienced a traditional Tea Ceremony at En in Gion, and it ended up being my favourite thing we did on the entire trip. I can't really describe the way that it was done, but there was a lot of craft and tradition behind every movement and every sound - from the dropping of a napkin against the tatami mats to the scooping of water from the pot.

One thing that did strike me as a bit odd is that although tea has a lot of significance in Japanese culture, that doesn't mean they sit and enjoy it for hours. Tea is meant to be drunk quickly. The low bowls mean it cools fast, so the recommended number of sips for one bowl is only 3-4! 

Tea ceremony - the man in the top left explained the ceremony to us before the woman came in and performed it for us.

Matcha, a type of green tea, is a big deal in Japan, and everything is matcha flavoured. I had at least one green tea ice cream cone a day, and brought back an entire box of green tea Kit Kats - so good!

Finally - Japan is one of the few places in the world outside of France that has Mariage Freres tea houses. We discovered this tea years ago in Stratford, Ontario, and then spent half of our honeymoon in Paris in Mariage Freres tea salons drinking entire pots of tea and relaxing.  We went to both Mariage Freres salons in Tokyo, and I stocked up on a few boxes of my favourites, as you cannot buy them in New Zealand.

The French approach to tea is the opposite of the Japanese - they like to sip at a a pot of tea for an entire hour. This is more my style...

Welcome to Japan

Our trip to Japan was unlike any other we've taken.  Usually on our travels we tend to do one activity a day, and then spend the rest of the time eating, drinking and relaxing.  With Japan, however, there was so much to do and see that we were on the go from early morning to late evening, walking 12-15km per day - no small feat considering it was close to 90* and humid for most of our trip.

As an overview - we spent 2 days in Tokyo, a week in Kyoto, a night in the Japanese Alps, and then headed back to Tokyo for another 2 nights before flying back to Auckland.

Welcome to Tokyo!

Rather than organising our trip by day, I have sorted our pictures by activity. To start, I have an overview of some bits and pieces and observations. At some point I will put together a separate album with some more pictures from our trip and post a link, so be on the lookout for that!

Cultural Activities

Sumo

Our first day in Tokyo we went to a sumo tournament. The day starts at 8am, but the big guys don't start wrestling until later in the day, so we showed up around 2pm.  To be honest, it's a lot more ceremony than it is wrestling, but these guys are awe-inspiring!

Clockwise from top left: Grabbing onto your opponent's muwashi is completely allowed; the Ryogoku sumo arena seats 10,000 people; each division gathers in a circle before their wrestling begins; before the final division the yokozuna, or grand champion, showed off his strength; the beer girls had mini keg backpacks - they need those in the US!

Geisha

Our first day in Kyoto we attended the Kamogawa Odori Geisha Dances in the Ponto-cho district. It was every bit as spectacular as you'd expect, and even more beautiful. Ponto-cho ended up being my favourite place in Japan, and we returned a few times to check out the nightlife action and hopefully spot some geishas walking around (we saw one).

Top: Ponto-cho during the day and at night. Each red lantern is a restaurant. Ponto-cho is a narrow laneway wide enough for 2-3 people. It's delightfully charming and feels like you've stepped back in time. Below: The tea ceremony before the show and the main event!

Zen Meditation

Our final night in Kyoto we spent the night in a Buddhist Temple, Shunko-in. It's one of the only temples in Kyoto that offers a zen meditation session in English, so we had to partake!

The beautiful Shunko-in Temple. The bottom right picture is my view while meditating. I've never meditated with my eyes opened before, so it was a new experience. The best part about staying at the temple was getting to wander around the mostly deserted temple complex at night!

Arishiyama Monkey Park

Monkey park!

Observations

Lodging

We stayed in a range of lodging types. The first place we stayed in Tokyo seemed small until we got to our private hostel room in Kyoto, which we were stuck in for 5 nights!  If one person wanted to open a suitcase, the other person had to be on the bed or in the bathroom. We also stayed in a traditional Japanese ryokan in the Alps, a buddhist temple and finally at the oh-so-luxurious Park Hyatt on our last night in Tokyo (thanks again D&L!).

  

The top left picture is not our hostel - it was even smaller than that.  As pictured in the top right, every hotel (even the hostel) provided robes and slippers, and almost all of them had vending machine beer. Not sure how they police that! The bottom left shows our room at the ryokan in the Alps (the bedding is in the closet) and the bottom right is our temple.  These places felt downright spacious after our hostel!  

Getting Around

We bought JR Rail Passes, which allowed us to go just about anywhere in the country. We rode the Shinkansen (bullet train) a few times, which was a bucket list item of Rob's. A lot of the public transportation signs are in Japanese, but with the help of google maps, we had no problems getting around.

We also saw a ton of people on bicycles - some of them all on the same bicycle. There were a lot of women pedaling around with 1-2 children on their bikes.  Despite the heat, everyone was covered up completely - hands and all.

Clockwise from top left: The Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto; Mt Fuji out the window; some of the cars are women only - we found this out the hard way when we got into one of them and noticed everyone glaring at Rob; bike parking!

Bare necessities

No commentary on Japan would be complete without talking about the bathroom situation. Japan is world famous for having some of the most advanced toilet technology in the world, and it's a well-deserved reputation. Nearly every public restroom had "shower toilets" with heated seats and other such luxuries as child seats, bathroom slippers and noise machines. However, every bathroom also had a "women's urinal"  - even the fancy ones!  I'd seen these before in other countries, but wasn't expecting them here.

Another huge part of Japanese culture is onsen, which are hot springs or modern public baths. These are kind of like spas, but for the entire family. Although they have not been historically, the majority of modern onsen are segregated by gender, which is okay by me. You are not allowed to wear anything into the baths (not even a bathing suit).

The onsen we went to in Arashiyama is a "super onsen," which means it had many different types of baths, masseuses and a restaurant.  This was in the middle of our trip and we were sore and tired, so we spent an entire evening there. We treated ourselves to (fully clothed) foot massages and a huge feast for dinner, then headed back to soak in our separate baths. Before entering, you have to wash your entire body at a little shower stand (some people also wash their hair), and then you're free to move around. 

At first I was a little intimidated and nervous about being so naked in front of so many strangers, but my nerves dissipated quickly. There were a lot of women there - skinny, fat, old, young and even one walking with a cane - but there didn't seem to be any judgement. I'm not sure that I'm ready to climb into a small bathtub naked with a close friend (like I saw two women doing), but if they had anything like onsen in Western culture, I'd be a full time member!

Top left: The entrance to our onsen, the happiest place on Earth. Bottom right: A women's urinal, also known as a "squatty potty"

Two Months in Melbourne

You may be surprised to see that this blog post isn't about our recent trip to Japan - but fear not, those posts are coming.  And there will likely be a lot of them (so be prepared).

This post is about a different type of trip.  Beginning Monday, I will be heading across the pond for a two month secondment in Melbourne!  Rob is going to stay behind in Auckland, but he will be visiting a few times, so we'll never be apart for longer than 2-3 weeks.  This will be the longest we've been apart in our 8 years together, but we have enough faith in our relationship to know that it can survive the separation.

Long time readers may recall that we spent a few days in Melbourne in June 2014, which was long enough to fall in love with the city. Since then I've said it's a city I could see myself living in, and I'm excited to test that theory out!  When I googled "things to do in Melbourne in winter," the first result was a list that included knitting, eating cheese, yoga and even curling!

Some of my favourite places from our previous trip to Melbourne - and a pretty good summary of why I'm so excited!  Not pictured: one of the best yarn companies I've ever come across, which is located about an hour outside of Melbourne.

Work is putting me up in a furnished apartment right in the middle of downtown, so I'll be surrounded by all the food, shops, food, bars and food that make this city so great. They're bringing me over because they have more work than they have people, so I'll be working pretty hard, but should still have ample time to explore all that Melbourne has to offer.

I'd like to take this opportunity to highly recommend Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, which is a TV show set in 1920s Melbourne about the most fabulous Phryne Fisher.  Miss Fisher is an independently wealthy woman who loves furs, silks, fast cars, beautiful men and solving murder mysteries.  She's kind of like a flapper version of James Bond, but with a much better wardrobe, and I love her. There's also a book series, but the show is so visually stunning that it's hard to compare.

Me reading a Miss Fisher book in front of Miss Fisher's house.

Seasons 1 and 2 of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries are available on Netflix - be sure to check them out today!  I'm sure they paint an accurate picture of what my life will be like in Melbourne.

Knifemaking and (not so) Sunny Nelson

A couple weeks after Easter we had another long weekend - this time due to Anzac Day, which is the New Zealand version of Memorial Day. This year was the 100 year anniversary of the battle at Gallipoli that Anzac Day commemorates, so the celebrations were bigger than usual.  We took the opportunity of a three day weekend to check out one of the towns on the South Island that we missed over Christmas - Nelson!  Nelson is affectionately referred to as "Sunny Nelson" because of its reputation as one of the sunniest places in the country, so of course it rained the entire time we were there.

Where we stayed along the way - the Honest Lawyer Country Pub and Inn was even better than it sounded!  And our beach view in Punakaiki can't be beat - even with the crap weather. Don't be deceived by those blue skies above - it was the last we saw all weekend.

Our first day in Nelson we drove out to Abel Tasman National Park, which is supposed to be a spectacular place to spend a week in the summer.  We had a couple hours on a rainy fall afternoon, but we could still see the appeal.  We did the first hour or so of the Abel Tasman Great Walk. Hopefully one day we'll do the entire thing!

The beautiful Abel Tasman - with a reading break on the beach (until the rain came back). Just next to the entrance of the park is a beautiful sculpture garden.

After our time in Abel Tasman, we had a rainy, windy drive down to Punakaiki, where we stayed in an awesome cabin right by the beach.  The view when we woke up was still pretty stunning despite the rain. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad we had to skip the pancake rocks and blowhole that Punakaiki is famous for, but we had other more important plans - knifemaking!

How a knife is born

We tried to do the knifemaking course in Barrytown over Christmas, but it was completely booked for a full month. It was a bit out of our way, but it was worth it! We started with a piece of steel and some rimu and ended up with some pretty kick ass knives!  See below for more detail.

After knifemaking we took an even rainier drive back to Nelson. By the time we got to our hotel it was after 8pm, and not much was open in town that late on a Sunday (even on a holiday weekend), but we managed to find a cozy brewpub with something resembling poutine.

Monday morning we joined up with a tour company to do our first ever New Zealand beer tour! We've done at least 10 wine tours at this point, but this was our first beer tour!  Nelson claims the title of Craft Brew Capitol of New Zealand, and the hops grown here are in demand all over the world. After the tour our guide was kind enough to drop us off at the airport, and we were back in our beds by 9pm!

With the other member of our beer tour - a father/son duo from Australia looking to get into the brewing business.

Some of the stops along the way - including a village for guinea pigs.

A day (or two) in Queenstown

In order to get to the Routeburn Track, we had to first make our way down to Queenstown, which serves as a gateway for the Fjordland region. We spent half a day there on arrival before taking a two-hour bus ride to the start of the track.

Before the hike - so clean and well rested! I waited to put my boots on as long as I could.

Even though the Routeburn Track is only 32km long, the path it takes through the mountains means that the ride home is twice as long as the ride there, so after we finished our tramp, we had to ride a bus for four hours back to Queenstown, arriving after 7pm on Easter Sunday.  I was afraid nothing would be open for dinner, but Queenstown did not disappoint! Because it's such a tourism-centric town, it is exempt from many of the laws around public holiday closures in New Zealand, so we were able to feast!

On the road to Routeburn.

Our flight wasn't due to leave until 6pm on Easter Monday, so we had a full day to hang out in Queenstown.  A few of us got much deserved massages, we had some beer at Atlas Cafe (our favourite spot in Queenstown) and finally tried a Fergburger. Fergburger is a bit of a legend in Queenstown, and whenver we're there, the line is out the door and around the block. We timed our trip for mid-afternoon, so only had to wait about 20 minutes.  As promised, our burgers were gigantic, but they were also slightly undercooked and probably not worth the hype.  I'm glad I had one, but wouldn't go out of my way to get another.

Hanging out with our favourite Kiwi and eating our Fergberger by the lake - the restaurant itself has minimal seating.

About 2 minutes before our flight was due to leave, the status board switched our flight from "on time" to "cancelled!" We were a little confused considering the lovely weather, but soon found out our plane had mechanical issues that kept it from getting to us. It was due to be the last flight of the day, so we were stuck in Queenstown for another night!  Thankfully, we were the first to notice the cancellation, and immediately got on the phone to Air New Zealand to book the first flights out the next morning. At that point, there were more people stranded than there were empty seats on the following day, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that some people were stuck for days.  This was especially upsetting to the multiple people who had connecting international flights, but to us - it was a bonus night in Queenstown!

This nice view brought to you by Air New Zealand!

Air New Zealand handled the situation better than we expected - they put us up in nice hotels in the centre of town, provided shuttles to/from the airport and paid for a 3-course dinner and a hot breakfast. Initially we were excited for our extra night in Queenstown, but by the time we had made it back to the hotel and eaten dinner, we were all so tired that we went straight to bed.  The next morning Rob and I drove straight from the airport to work, still in the clothes we'd been wearing for two days.

Routeburn Track

New Zealand has dozens (hundreds?) of amazing multi-day tramps, but only nine of them carry the official title of Great Walks - three on the North Island and six on the South Island.

Generally speaking, the New Zealand Department of Conservation does an excellent job of keeping up the tracks, but they put a special emphasis on the facilities for the Great Walks. Almost all of them have huts with cooking stoves, heat, bunks, running water and toilets - even flushing toilets at some sites!

We had some grand scheme of doing all nine Great Walks, but haven't had the best of luck so far. As some of you may recall, we attempted the Tongariro Northern Circuit three times back in December 2013/January 2014, but each time we were thwarted by the weather ("you might not make it, but you could give it a go"). We also did a two day canoe trip on the Whanganui River last April, which was a portion of the Whanganui Journey Great Walk (even though it's more of a row than a walk), but not the full thing.  Those attempts and half-attempts are the closest we've come to completing a Great Walk until Easter 2015, when we hiked the Routeburn Track with  four friends.

At 32km, the Routeburn Track is one of the shortest Great Walks. Some people do it in two days and some people even run through it in one, but the most traditional option is a three-day hike. Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays here, so we took advantage of the long weekend to cross Routeburn off our list. We got up before the sun on the morning of Good Friday to fly to Queenstown, where we caught a bus into Fjordland National Park to start the 9km walk to our first hut around 3pm.

We hiked from left to right - starting at the Routeburn Shelter, staying at the Routeburn Falls Hut on the first night and hiking to the Lake Mackenzie Hut for the second night, and then catching our bus back to Queenstown from the Divide on Day 3.

The Routeburn Track is one of the most famous in the world among hikers, and based on my (not so) mini photo-essay below, it's not hard to see why!

Day 1 - Routeburn Shelter to Routeburn Falls Hut

Setting off - the first day was the easiest, with a mostly-flat walk along a river and through some bush.

This trail even had toilets along the trail - with toilet paper included! Apparently the Routeburn and Milford are the "fanciest" of the Great Walks.  Usually it's BYOTP and be prepared to go behind a tree.

Top left - The last section of the trail is very steep, with a slippery, rocky "staircase" at the very end. These 2km are estimated to take almost as long as the 6.5 km before them. But we finally made it to the hut, which was amazing! We boiled up some bangers and mash for dinner and sipped wine by the fire while a minstrel played classic campfire tunes on a handmade ukelele. Does life get any better than this?

Day 2 - Routeburn Falls Hut to Lake Mackenzie Hut via the Harris Saddle

We woke up on Day 2 to a hard and steady downpour, and ended up hanging out until after 10am for it to slow a bit. It didn't rain that hard again the rest of the day, but there was a constant drizzle and fog for most of the day. Thankfully we were all prepared! The middle right picture is looking back at the hutsite - complete with emergency helicopter pad. Bottom right shows some crazy people swimming in the waterfall.

Our walk through Harris Saddle. This was the hardest part of the entire hike for me. It was raining, cold, slippery and STEEP! These pictures don't capture how much of this was straight uphill. Bottom right is the natural shelter we stopped at to have a snack and a break from the rain.

We made it to the Harris Saddle shelter just as the sun was coming out! We had a quick lunch and then the others set out on the optional side hike up Conical Hill while I stayed with the packs. Thankfully the clouds parted long enough to make the extra 2 hour hike worth it.

Coming back down the other side of the mountain after Harris Saddle was as varied in terrain as the weather was that day. It seemed like we hiked through the plains, the tropics, a rocky wasteland and Fanghorn Forest all in a few hours. Also, contrary to what the map depicted, it was not a gradual decline down to the hut. It was unexpectedly uphill for most of the way until it took a sharp dive downhill for a very steep walk down into the Lake Mackenzie valley. We were EXHAUSTED when we arrived, but some mac n cheese, wine and hot chocolate cheered us right up!

Day 3 - Lake Mackenzie Hut to The Divide

We were thrilled to wake up Day 3 to find that it was sunny!  It was cold (less than 4*C when we set out), but the views were too stunning to notice. The bottom left is a picture of the "poncy hut up the way" for the people on guided walks. For just $1200-1500 per person ($1000+ more than the regular huts), you can have someone carry all your bags, cook all your meals, and stay in fancy huts with hot water, soft beds in private rooms, and even television! We call these people cheaters.

The end of the hike took us past some breathtaking waterfalls and then back into the forest for the final descent down to the Divide. We started to hear the road below about an hour before our hike ended, which at that point seemed weird and otherwordly.

We made it!  I'd like to thank the people who suggested I bring a walking stick, the people who invented the walking stick, and the people who lent me a walking stick - I couldn't have done it without you!  And of course I'd like to thank all of my Easter Tramps - I'm so glad you were able to join us and am grateful for your patience and optimism.  When's our next tramp?!

Tramps Around Town

This past weekend we did the Routeburn Track, which is a 3-day, 2-night tramp on the South Island near Queenstown. This post is not about that (but there will be one soon I promise!).  This post is about some of the day hikes we did around Auckland to train for Routeburn.

My goal was to do one walk per weekend during March. I managed to get in two walks and a kayak trip, which I ended up regretting slightly.  And not just because Routeburn was so hard, but because there is so much to see around here!

The first weekend in March we joined up with some friends to check out the Lake Wainamu Loop Track near Bethell's Beach. It ended up being one of those perfect, golden summer days. Walking barefoot through a stream and then hiking around a lake to a series of waterfalls made me feel like I was 8 years old again (in the best way possible).

We spent a few hours hiking and then headed to the beach. After about an hour there we were all so hungry from the exertion that we drove over to the nearby brew pub for some "fush and chups" and beer paddles.

The Lake Wainamu Loop Track

Huge sand dunes along the track - Rob and L felt the need to dash up the dunes, but may have regretted trying it barefoot once they realised how hot the sand was. You need hobbit feet for that kind of thing.

Walking around the lake. We weren't the only ones who felt like kids that day - top left is a group of people with their makeshift downhill slip-and-slide (didn't use dish soap - rookie mistake!) and underneath that is someone jumping into the lake from a tree.

We stopped at a waterfall for lunch, and then quickly discovered that it was actually a series of waterfalls. I think there ended up being about 4 of them. We were going to go for a swim until we saw a GIGANTIC eel in the first pool.  Also the water was frigid. Bottom right - nature baby!

After our hike we headed to a nearby beach to cool off. Rob and L gave body surfing a go while KS and I splashed in the shallows.  Baby J was having the time of his life crawling through the tidepools.

We managed to get one more hike in during mid-March - this time even closer to home. The North Shore Coastal Walk in Auckland is 23km and ends in our little village. However, I was just breaking in some new hiking boots and we got a late start, so we just did a small portion of it. We started in Browns Bay, walked for an hour or so, and then turned around and walked back.  It was blazing hot out (the NZ sun is INTENSE) - I got a bit of a burn despite slathering myself with sunscreen.

Just with our previous walk, we rewarded ourselves with an hour of hanging out on the beach and then dinner/drinks at the local brewpub.  Not a bad incentive for hiking!  I'd love to do the entire walk eventually - just not on a day as hot as this one was. Maybe there will be a nice day this winter for it!

The bottom right picture is of me grocery shopping after our hike - and yes, I'm barefoot!  I didn't want to put my heavy boots on after I'd taken then off, and people go barefoot everywhere here, including to the grocery store. I've been barefoot grocery shopping 2-3 times now, and every time I do it I feel like I'm getting away with something grand!