ROSELINA HUNG

Around the World in 21 Days: Part Two

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by

Roselina Hung
in
Golden Gai, Shinjuku, Tokyo
Golden Gai, Shinjuku, Tokyo

This is part two of my photo diary of my last trip of 2014 – around the world in three weeks. After the last leg of our trip in Prague, we flew, via Paris, to Tokyo. I haven’t been back to Asia in over 10 years, and I haven’t been to Japan since my early teens. This was definitely the favourite part of my world trip. We didn’t nearly have enough time to see everything, and I definitely hope to be back soon to spend more time exploring the country. Here are some photos from my short but memorable trip to Japan.

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Part 5 – Tokyo, Japan

We arrived in Japan just in time to catch the tail end of their Autumn Colour festival, with beautiful leaves changing colour around the city, even though it was already mid-December. Tokyo is a huge city and we barely scratched the surface on our too brief trip.

Garden grounds at the Tokyo National Museum
Garden grounds at the Tokyo National Museum
A beautiful vase with bamboo and lively sparrows
A beautiful vase with bamboo and lively sparrows
His & Hers figurines in the Akihabara district
His & Hers figurines in the Akihabara district
One of 3 Japanese weddings we saw at Meiji Shrine
One of 3 Japanese weddings we saw at Meiji Shrine
Our mini bounty from Isetan Depachika
Our mini bounty from Isetan Depachika
Perfect and expensive fruit for sale. Wrapped up & pretty.
Perfectly wrapped & pretty – $60-70 each.
We watched them make candy - quite the work out!
We watched them make candy – look at the detail!
Rainbow Pocky tower
Rainbow Pocky tower

From Tokyo, we hopped on a bullet train and headed to Kyoto for the last leg of our trip. We travelled at dizzying speeds…

Warp speeds to Kyoto.
Warp speeds to Kyoto.

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Part 6 – Kyoto, Japan

Once we got to Kyoto, we headed straight for Arashiyama, as we had luckily timed our arrival with the start of their light festival. The bridges, streets and hills were all lit up, with lanterns lighting the path way to the temples and through the bamboo forest. This last part of our trip was definitely dedicated to seeing temples and gardens.

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Arashiyama, Kyoto
The bamboo forest lit up during the Arashiyama light festival.
The bamboo forest lit up during the Arashiyama light festival.
Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavillion)
Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavillion)
Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavillion)
Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavillion)
Ryoanji rock garden
Ryoanji rock garden
A perfectly framed garden doorway
A perfectly framed garden path
Sampling foods at Nishiki Market
Pickled vegetables at Nishiki Market
Buying tea at Ippodo
Buying tea at Ippodo
Watching some kabuki theatre - from the nosebleed section again.
Watching some kabuki theatre
Geishas taking selfies
Geishas taking selfies on their iPhones
The old streets of Kyoto
The old streets of Kyoto
The most delicious Italian food I've ever had...was in Kyoto.
One of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had was Italian in Kyoto, at Ristorante Dei Cacciatori.
The most delicious matcha and genmaicha ice cream parfaits to celebrate the end of our world trip!
Matcha and genmaicha ice cream parfaits to celebrate the end of our world trip!
Waiting to go home.
Waiting to go home.

And there you have it. We traveled 3 different continents, 5 different countries, 6 different cities, in a little over 3 weeks (a couple of days were spent flying). It was truly the trip of a lifetime, and it was daunting when we first booked it and thought about how many places we were going to in such a short time. But once we were actually traveling, I think our excitement overrode our jet lag and we were usually out from morning to night, walking all day long. I saw and experienced so many new things, I’ve collected lots of ideas along the way and am keeping them the sketchbook in my head for future works. It will be interesting to see how things I saw from this trip will find their way into my future art.

For more pictures from my trip, you can check out my Instagram.