our plan:
date: 16.07.2013 - 19.08.2013
plan:
DAY 1:
Departure from Warsaw. DAY 2: Arrival at Beijing (11:30am). In the afternoon visiting the Temple of Confucius and the Lama Temple. DAY 3: Visiting Tiantan (Temple of Heaven), Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Emperor's gardens and tombs. Wangfujing Street. In the evening, dinner at a traditional Chinese restaurant. DAY 4: One day long expedition to the Great Wall. In the evening: Ghost Street. DAY 5: Visiting the modern part of the city. Bird's Nest and Water Cube. Rickshaw ride, Visiting hutongs and Beijing Zoo. DAY 6: Departure from Beijing. Arrival at Shanghai. Shanghai Museum (Shanghai Bowuguan), In the evening: watching the city panorama from the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center. DAY 7: Zhujiajiao Ancient Town, the Temple of Jade Buddha, Yuyuan Garden. In the evening: Shanghai Circus World . DAY 8: Departure from Shanghai at 9.00 am. DAY 9: Arrival at Osaka. Visiting Nakanoshima and Osaka City Hall. In the evening: Minami (Namba) and Amerika Mura. DAY 10: Departure to Naha. DAY 11: Ferry travel. DAY 12: Arriving at Naha. Tsuboya Pottery District, International Cemetery of Tomari. DAY 13: Shurijou kouen - chief royal palace of the Kingdom of Ryuukyuu, serving as the chief royal residence. Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum. DAY 14: All day long bike trip to Nami no Ue beach. Visiting Nami no Ue Shrine. DAY 15: Shikina en - Chinese style gardens and Naha Folkcraft Museum . DAY 16: Trip to the Okinawa City - Nakagusuku Castle, U.S. military facilities and traditional Okinawian house: Nakamura-ke . DAY 17: Departure from Naha. DAY 18: Ferry travel. DAY 19: Arriving at Osaka. Osaka Castle, Sumiyoshi Taisha and Shittennoji Temple. Tempouzan Marketplace. In the afternoon departure to Kyoto. DAY 20: Kyoto Station, Kyoto Tower. The Temples of Higashi hongan ji and Nishi hongan ji. Shousei Garden. Daitokuji and Shimogamojinja Temples. Botanical Garden. DAY 21: Nishiki Marketplace. Kyoto Museum, Gion and Imperial Palace. In the evening: Pontochou. DAY 22: All day long trip to Nara. DAY 23: Touji and Mibudera Temples. Golden Pavilion and Silver Pavilion. In the evening departure to Tokio (night bus). DAY 24: Arriving at Tokyo in the morning. Imperial Palace, Kitanomaru Park and Yasukuni Shrine. DAY 25: Ginza District: Tsukiji Fish Market, Hibiya Park, Sony building, Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Leica Ginza Salon. DAY 26: Trip to Kamakura: Toukei, Jouchi and Kenchou Shrines. Visiting Daibutsu (The Great Buddha of Kamakura) and onsen. DAY 27: Ueno Park, Tokyo National Museum and National Museum of Modern Art. In the evening: Harajuku District. DAY 28: Shitamachi Museum, Ueno Zoo, Asakusa District: Sensou Shrine and Sumida River. DAY 29: Mount Fuji excursion. DAY 30: Coming back from Fuji Mountain in the evening. Vatching the city panorama from the viewing platform. DAY 31: Shinjuku: red light Kabuki district, Hanazono Shrine, NS building. DAY 32: Spiral Building, Meiji Shrine and Outa Museum. DAY 33: Shibuya District: Hachiko Statue, Tokio Tover, Ebisu, Daikanyama, Yebisu Gardens. DAY 34: |
aims:
During our stay in Japan, we would like to find an accomodation through the 'couch-surfing' services. The reasons we have decided to find an accomodation this way:
- it will help us reduce the expedition's budget; significantly; - talking with people with whom we will be staying will be a wonderful opportunity to practice and learn Japanese; - thanks to spending time in Japanese households we will be able to see how the Japanese family life, daily routines and ways of preapring food look like, and how Japanese spend they free time at home. Beside this, during our stay at Okinawa we would like to expand our knowledge about the difficult time in Okinawian history - American occupation which was present there until 1972. We hope to learn more about it by visiting regional museums and talking with local people. The next thing we would really like to do is to participate in the Japanese Festival of the Dead (O-Bon Matsuri) and to investigate how the ceremionies and rituals differ in various regions of the country. Another thing is that during the whole journey we would like to pay an extra attetion to Asian street fashion. We would like to see what is trendy on the streets of Beijing, Shanghai and Tokio. We will record our observations in a photographic form. |