AVTuco Posted October 2, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted October 2, 2014 the museum inside osaka castle was excellent for that stuff, basically 5 floors of the history of tokugawa (who was the ruler in nijo castle) vs toyotomi in a battle in osaka to be fair i've tried reading a bit of japanese history and its full of years of nothing really happening, there is about 40 years during feudal japan starting with nobunaga and ending with tokugawa, the meiji restoration and then the war, the social structure is fascinating but bloody hard work Damn, I didn't know that. I was in Osaka in the spring for one night, in a hotel facing directly to the White Castle, but didn't go. Agree about the history, that's just the period I meant. About the Golden Pavilion, it's a pity you can't get closer to it. Would be amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 meant to say some general advice about the shinkansen, they're piece of piss, really comfortable and loads of leg room, you dont have to reserve seats but we did, only on the day and usually for a train about 30 minutes later (giving us a chance to look round the shops in the stations and get a bento box) but we found that way the people at the counter speak good english and can give you some advise that isnt that easy to find on say hyperdia, such as obviously times, platform numbers, stops, and often what type of train it will be, because you cant use the nozomi and some of the trains are faster than others, think on the trip from hiroshima to osaka we got on a train that left 20 minutes later but arrived 20 minutes earlier than the next train, i found that there isnt a lot of english on the electronic boards at the train stations but the english in the JR ticket offices is excellent definitely worth doing IMO although when i went to the JR ticket office at narita to return my suica card there were a couple of people who had obviously just landed reserving their train seats for the whole 2 weeks they were there, dont understand that at all, give yourself the flexibility, its so easy to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Hiroshima - i found that there isnt a lot to do in hiroshima but what is there is really good, got there about midday and left 24 hours later happy id done everything i wanted to, very easy to get round, they have a tram system, think it was 160 yen per trip, you just drop it in a box on your way off did the peace park stuff, the peace museum was surprisingly good, despite the name it is a bomb museum, lots of stuff i didn't know, like where the bomb exploded and the number of people that died of thirst days after, its a very good museum but was unfortunately full of aussie school kids with huge expensive cameras who for some reason didnt look at the items or the descriptions they took photos of them all instead, it really **** me off, to the extent that i said something to a couple of them there are lots of different memorials dotted around the park, such as the one for the children, the memorial for the victims is good, the whole park just has an aura about it which is hard to explain next day did a trip to miyajima, you can it using a JR rail pass because they own the ferry but from where we were it was going to take an hour to get to the ferry so we just paid to use the boat thats next to the peace park (and our hotel) miyajima was cool, they have a big famous shrine on the water and i think THE tori in japan the town on the island is nice, plenty of tat shops and little restaurants and they have tons of maple cakes that are good and really cheap, and there's more deer strolling round 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 last one! osaka - I wasnt overly fussed by osaka, read several books on stuff to do and couldnt really find that much that interested me, ended up turning up there about 5pm and leaving midday the next day, went shopping on the night, went to a place called namba parks but it was dark and you couldnt access the viewing platform but it should have looked like this - it was a really cool place, then did dotonbori and shinsaibashi, the gilco man was being refurbed which was a shame i also think it was this point in the trip where we were trying to do cuisine that we hadnt done before but found that a lot of the local stuff in osaka was the same as the stuff in kyoto and hiroshima so struggled to find somewhere to eat did the castle which was really good, great history museum inside, glad i didnt bother with himeji, which had been under refurbishment but when we went past on the train all the scaffolding was down, between hiroshima and osaka i was happy with the castles we'd seen 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 What area of Singapore is good to stay in? Probably be looking at hostels, near bars/restaurants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Anywhere near Clarke Quay / Boat Quay is the best bet. I was in walking distance of those but can't for the life of me remember what my hotel was called! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted October 28, 2014 Moderator Share Posted October 28, 2014 Really doesn't matter where you are in central Singapore. Underground is fantastic and taxis are relatively cheap (cheaper than Liverpool which is cheap) and abundant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I stayed at Raffles but it's star is not what it once was and there are better hotels for sure ... I just like the colonial feel about the place and the doorman that looks like a baddie from a James Bond film Rooms are sold on a 24 hour basis which more hotels should operate , so if you check in at 8pm then checkout is 8pm the next day, great if you are on a stopover which I'd imagine most visitors to Singapore are Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted October 28, 2014 Moderator Share Posted October 28, 2014 And don't do the Singapore Sling in Raffles thing either, its vastly overpriced and pre-mixed out of a quick serve nozzle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 And don't do the Singapore Sling in Raffles thing either, its vastly overpriced and pre-mixed out of a quick serve nozzle. I can only vouch for the 2 I had there but they were both freshly made in front of my eyes And also free as my butler arranged it for me when he took me up to show me the room Tbf all alcohol is expensive in Singapore so not exclusive to raffles ... Still the only country I've been to where the price goes up the later you drink !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 And don't do the Singapore Sling in Raffles thing either, its vastly overpriced and pre-mixed out of a quick serve nozzle.I can only vouch for the 2 I had there but they were both freshly made in front of my eyes And also free as my butler arranged it for me when he took me up to show me the room Tbf all alcohol is expensive in Singapore so not exclusive to raffles ... Still the only country I've been to where the price goes up the later you drink !!! Doesn't it do that in Dublin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 (edited) Booked my Hostel for Singapore. It's in the Little India area, does free scooter tours of the city as well which might be quite fun. Getting so excited for it all now, just over two weeks to go. Edited October 29, 2014 by mikeyp102 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted October 30, 2014 Moderator Share Posted October 30, 2014 Little India reminded me of Soho Road tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Well it'll be home from home (actually I've rarely been soho road) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Well, I can now say Japan is freaking awesome 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 We're all waiting for a write up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Okay you can have one when I'm in work and I've got a proper keyboard to type with. That's kind of wrong isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Checks to see if Wainy has done a trip report. Nope 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 I ate sushi. Do you want Korea as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 You've not truly visited Japan unless you took part in Bukake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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