Welcome to week twenty-three of the backpacking diaries. I’ll be updating you weekly on where I’ve been, what I’ve been getting up to, and most importantly, how I’m really feeling about this insane decision I’ve made.
As you probably know, I’m currently backpacking through Asia after quitting my job and leaving London for good.
I want to remember every moment of this experience, and document as much of it as I can, just like I’ve documented everything else in my life post-18 on this website.
You can keep up to date with my travels on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube but for now, enjoy week twenty-three of the travel diaries!
If you missed the first twenty-two weeks of backpacking diaries, you can catch up here.
Top tip: for mobile data around Asia, we used the Jetpac eSim. This was super handy and easily installed onto our phones as soon as we arrived in Japan! Get $5 off your eSIM package when you use my referral code: 4293IOA9.
Day 155: Monday 19th August 2024
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Dear travel diary,
Today was exciting as we visited the Statue of Liberty. Yes, really.
I think I’ve now seen four Statues of Liberty (New York, Paris, Las Vegas and now Tokyo), and I doubt there can be many others to see.
This Statue of Liberty in particular was quite a trek away, and we took an hour-long train to get to it. However, it’s by the water and has a great view of Tokyo behind it, so definitely worth heading out to.
For lunch, we had booked a 26-course sushi tasting menu. 26 courses!
Some were a little questionable, and I did feel like I was on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here a few times. But for the most part, the sushi was delicious.
I’m a huge sushi fan, so this was definitely a highlight of my time in Japan so far.
Feeling very full, we walked to the fashion district to the Uniqlo flagship store which was very cool to see. Thankfully himself didn’t buy a new winter coat.
We then ventured further out of the city centre to Tokyo tower, to see it up close and grab some nice photos. Around this area was the famous bar/restaurant from Kill Bill.
I haven’t seen the movie, but it was cool to come and have a drink here, and see how many celebrities had also visited the spot too.
After my glass of Sangria, we headed back to the hotel to pack and (somewhat) prepare for Mount Fuji!
Day 156: Tuesday 20th August 2024
Location: Tokyo & Mount Fuji, Japan
Dear travel diary,
We left Tokyo this morning to head to Mount Fuji, and I really think I’ll miss Tokyo a lot. It’s the one city that’s reminded me most of New York and I could definitely see myself living here if life ever led me this way.
I can’t see that happening, but I definitely know it’s somewhere I’d enjoy living.
We took the bus to the Mount Fuji area and the drive only took us around two hours. Our guest house was a ten minute walk from the bus stop, so we headed there and checked in.
We’re staying at a traditional Japanese house which means we’re sleeping on a mattress on the floor and the walls are paper thin. It will be an experience!
After checking in, we headed into the town to suss the place out and take some photos of Mount Fuji. The town area was eerily dead with most shops, cafes and restaurants closed.
For a tourist-town, there was next to nothing open. The hiking season for Fuji is July – September, so it felt odd that things would be closed.
We managed to find a cafe for a coffee before getting travel and hiking information from the tourist office in the town.
For dinner, we headed to an Italian restaurant called Bruschetta which was beautiful. We stuffed ourselves full of carbs before having an early night before our early alarm tomorrow to climb Mount Fuji!
Day 157: Wednesday 21st August 2024
Location: Mount Fuji, Japan
Dear travel diary,
Today was the hardest day ever. I hiked Mount Fuji.
Why? I’m not too sure either.
Would I recommend it to a friend? Absolutely not.
My enemies? Yes, yes I would.
Our alarms went off at 3.30am which should have been the first red flag that this was a bad idea. Then we set off for the bus up to the 5th station.
The bus timetable said there would be buses at 4am and 4.30am, but neither showed up. So we were one of the first on the 5am bus and set off on our hike around 6am.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and it was looking like a glorious morning. The ascent was tough. We didn’t train for this and I have next to zero hiking experience.
It took us eight hours to get to the top, and around the last 30 minutes it started lashing down, meaning we were soaked through and also sweating profusely.
But we made it to the top. Somehow, we made it.
Then the descent was another story in itself. It was so much pressure on our knees and it took us over 3 hours to get down. We both fell on our asses and stumbled around 100 times.
It felt like we were never going to get to the bottom, and the sun was starting to set. I could have kissed the ground when we finally arrived at the carpark.
There were a few moments when I thought I was going to cry going up and coming down, and it was definitely by far the hardest and most challenging thing I’ve ever done.
Will I be doing it again? Absolutely not.
Am I aching all over right now? Yes.
Was it worth it? No.
Day 158: Thursday 22nd August 2024
Location: Mount Fuji & Kyoto, Japan
Dear travel diary,
I could really do with a day in a spa today and a full body massage as every part of my body is aching. But instead, we had a 10am checkout, and a train to catch to Kyoto, our next location in Japan.
It’s also Steff’s birthday today! He’s 33 and feeling every bit of his age after the climb yesterday.
We headed for some fluffy souffle-style pancakes by the lake this morning and then headed straight to the train station to sit and work on our laptops for a few hours before our train.
We’re taking the bullet train, which is very exciting. The first bullet train we’ve taken in Japan so far! The train journey was very smooth and didn’t feel any different from a train in the UK really.
Apart from the fact that it was very fast, obviously.
We arrived to our hotel in Kyoto which is very modern, but the room is tiny. It’s definitely a thing here in Japan where the accommodation is very compact and the beds are on the floor.
Most of our hotel rooms have been separate beds too, so it seems Japanese people like to sleep alone and as close to the floor as possible.
We collapsed as soon as we got in and had a long night’s sleep, barely able to move with the pain in our bodies from Mount Fuji.
Day 159: Friday 23rd August 2024
Location: Kyoto, Japan
Dear travel diary,
Our first morning waking up in Kyoto! We tried to be up early this morning to attack the day and see as much as possible.
It was a struggle to climb out of bed, I won’t lie. Plus it doesn’t help that we’re basically sleeping on the floor. But we headed out and spent the day as tourists.
Our first stop was Nishiki Market which was only a few minutes’ walk from our hotel. It was busy but there were so many stalls selling incredible food. We tried some shrimp tempura, some beef skewers and I had a delicious mango juice of course.
We were heading out of the market when we spotted a Nepalese flag outside a small restaurant. Which can only mean one thing: momos!
We dined on a plate of incredible momos for around £2. Who’d have thought we’d be having momos in Japan?!
After this we headed to the Maccha House as himself is convinced he’ll somehow be able to convert me. We had a matcha-flavoured tiramasui and he had a matcha latte. It still tasted like grass to me.
We hid from the sun for a little while and then headed to the Gion district which is famous for old-style, traditional Japanese buildings and for spotting Geishas. We saw so many people dressed in the traditional clothing, and it’s really cool to see.
For dinner, we headed to a popular gyoza spot and waited around 30 minutes to get inside. The restaurant is tiny and only sits around 12 people at a time.
The gyozas were definitely worth the wait (and the hype), I think I had around 24-30 gyozas.
No regrets.
Day 160: Saturday 24th August 2024
Location: Kyoto, Japan
Dear travel diary,
Another typhoon is headed for Japan next week. It is typhoon season, so I can’t really get annoyed, can I?
We’ve made the executive decision to cancel Nara, extend our stay in Kyoto and take a day trip to Nara tomorrow instead. It’s only an hour away by train and the weather’s looking good, so we can visit the deer in the sunshine.
Himself was up at the crack of dawn this morning to walk to a restaurant for 8am to queue before it opened at 9am. Not to dine in for breakfast, but to queue for a reservation for this evening.
Apparently they do this every day and it’s the only way to get a reservation to eat there. So he secured a 7pm reservation while I was in the land of slumber.
Once I was up, dressed and out the door (a few hours later), we headed to the Bamboo Forest on the subway. It was a scorcher outside, so the umbrellas were up and the factor 50 applied.
It was a touristy spot, but made for a nice walk and was vey cool to see. We had some great ramen noodles for lunch before heading back into Kyoto.
Dinner was at Hikiniku to Come that himself secured the reservation for. They cook small burgers on a grill in front of you at the bar which seems to be the main selling point. They have a set menu where you receive three burgers and unlimited bowls of rice, some miso soup and horse radish.
Day 161: Sunday 25th August 2024
Location: Nara & Kyoto, Japan
Dear travel diary,
We were up nice and early this morning to get the train to Nara to see the famous bowing deer.
It was a little ‘Instagram vs Reality’ as the deer were absolutely everywhere, all amongst the tourists. They were on the pavements, by the side of the road, crossing the road and a little aggressive trying to grab food.
We couldn’t believe just how many there were and none of them had any fear it seemed of people, cars, noise and busy areas.
It may have been a fortunate change of events that we cancelled our two nights in Nara as there isn’t really much to do in the area besides see the deer and temples.
We took a long walk around the park, deer and temples in the sweltering heat and took too many photos that I probably won’t look at again, but it was cute to see the deer and how friendly they were.
It was mid-afternoon when we got back to Kyoto, so we grabbed our laptops and headed to Starbucks to spend some time working.
A large thunderstorm started around ten minutes after we arrived in Starbucks – good timing – and so we set up camp here for the evening, calling home to check in and then heading for dinner nearby before having an early night.
And that’s another week in Japan complete! Make sure to check back in next week as we explore more of Kyoto and move on to Osaka!
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