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  • Good morning everybody. It's Thursday

  • Twelth... I think.

  • Kind of lost with the days at the moment.

  • I'm on my way to Asakusa today

  • I don't even remember what's there but

  • It's on the second half of the area map from my hostel

  • So yesterday I went to Ueno which was on one side and today I'm going the other side

  • I don't think it's 10 am yet and I'm already dying. It's super hot

  • Unbelievably hot

  • We'll see how it goes from now

  • Let me just stay here for a minute because I don't know which way I have to go, I have to check on my map

  • But yeah it's pretty darn hot already

  • I should have packed some shorts but I saw my shorts and I said

  • 'You know what it's October it's freezing, I'm never going to wear shorts' and today it's 26C again

  • So I'm dying

  • And before I say bye, I just wanted to show you this nice shot of Tokyo Sky Tree right there in front of me

  • Probably going to go say hi to it also even though I don't think I'm gonna climb all the way above

  • I'm a sweaty, horrible mess but I've arrived at Asakusa

  • This is just the entrance I believe. Behind me you have the infamous 'Gacha' machines where you can get 'gachapon'

  • Which are 'collectible' sort of figurines

  • And these ones are in front of Don Quijote which is a huge store where you can get just about anything I believe

  • I've never been inside, I'm just about to

  • I'm just, you know, introducing it

  • And I think I'm going to try some gachapon if I have enough money.

  • I don't really tend to buy small things that kind of crowd me

  • But I saw this one which is for cats and my cat is probably going to hate it and hate me for getting it but

  • But I just need to bring him back a souvenir from Tokyo Japan so let's go get that

  • Then let's go to Don Quijote. I don't even know if I'm going to be able to film in there, I don't know how busy it is

  • But I think it's like tiny spaced... like a lot, a lot of things from what I've seen. We'll have a look.

  • Anyway, I'm dying here, the sun is so hot. Hopefully they have air conditioning inside. First let's find our 'gacha'.

  • This is the one I'm going to get. You either have apple, watermelon, banana, strawberry, this one is melon I think and orange.

  • I don't know which one I want. I like apple, it's really cute. Banana is absolutely ridiculous and the strawberry one...

  • I like those three. So I'll see which one I get.

  • I think this is about... I think it's 300 yen. I don't even know if I have that change, I'll check.

  • If not I'll have to come back later.

  • Ok so I found 300 yen

  • Which is just under three euros. I know, I'm a little crazy.

  • So let's see if I can figure this one out or if I'm absolutely a stupid tourist person

  • Let me just twist this

  • And there we go.

  • And I think I got the orange one. Which is not too bad. I think that's the one I got.

  • Really cute. Okay: gacha, off my bucket list. For Japan anyway.

  • And Patchi, I'm coming for you.

  • I gotta watch where I'm going because it's getting super crowded at the moment

  • Unbelievably crowded and with the heat... woah.

  • So behind me are a bunch of little street shops? Can't find the name... street shops I'm going to say

  • There's food, there's souvenirs...

  • And I'm trying not to get tempted by all the souvenirs because they're quite pricey cuz I'm guessing that this is quite a touristy area.

  • Now I'm gonna bother everybody cuz I'm finally gonna go see that temple

  • I keep discovering new things and I'm like

  • Ok I'll just go check this out then I'll go see the temple and then when I'm done checking that out there's another street

  • And then another and then another so

  • Now, I'm walking back towards the temple probably bugging the hell out of everybody trying to take a picture

  • But guys: I'm coming through.

  • Just prayed for good fortune.

  • So with all the temples I'm going to see on this trip

  • And all the offerings and the prayers I'm going to do, I expect a lot of good luck.

  • Just kidding. Mostly it's just about gratitude. That's what I believe anyway.

  • I had my Omikuji drawn. Luckily I have a good luck

  • But if you have bad luck, not to worry, you have to tie it onto here

  • See? Looks like today, not too much bad luck.

  • And if you draw good luck like mine: best fortune so I'm going to be very lucky. Very good.

  • And also it's number 8 which for me is a good number. Infinity number.

  • So if you have a good fortune, you take it home with you. Bad fortune: you tie to the rack.

  • Got a free cold green tea

  • Apparently it's a famous green tea here and it's quite good.

  • I find that tea here is brewed quite strong so there's a little bitterness, more than I'm used to

  • But enjoying it nonetheless and I got it from the stand here behind me.

  • Looks like today I'm going to be enjoying street food more than anything

  • This is I think- I'll correct myself while editing - Monzya Manju

  • Kind of looks like a Nikuman. I think it's the same principle, it's like a steamed bun

  • But inside there are vegetables and pork I think though it might be kind of a stir fry inside a bun, I'm not sure. We'll see

  • Right now it's steaming hot

  • Not sure I can eat it right away but I'm definitely going to enjoy that. It smells so nice.

  • By the way, I forgot to say: people know me as a vegetarian though I do call myself a 'reducitarian' more

  • And when I'm abroad, definitely like now in Japan which is a huge opportunity

  • I just eat anything because I want to experience it to the fullest

  • So, this is pork. I would usually not eat pork back in Belgium but

  • When in Japan, I'll do as Japanese people do

  • Itadakimasu

  • Sticky!

  • Everytime I think I'm done, I turn and there's another alley that looks interesting

  • I mean look at this behind me: there's a shop dedicated to strawberries. I mean I need to get away from here.

  • I'm just going to buy every kind of street food... I want to try everything I find. I'm like 'ooh what's that? I want to try that.'

  • What am I going to do?

  • Dammit, I think I got my cat the wrong one. I should have bought this one but it wasn't there before!

  • My cat will never be a rabbit. I'm not going to buy another one, I mean...

  • Darn it! My cat's an orange!

  • I think I may have found my next job here. I'm going to be a caricature artist at that place. Sounds good.

  • I don't know what to do. I'm at a crossroads. That way or that way?

  • I think I'm going to go that way. And then come back. And then go that way.

  • I think. We'll see, maybe I'll find something else.

  • I'm serious guys, it just never ends.

  • You turn and then there's another turn and then there's more gacha that I keep looking at

  • Thinking like 'do I need this in my life?'

  • It's everywhere!

  • I know the answer is no but I can't help myself looking at them and -aah I need this!

  • No I don't but still I need it!

  • I see everyone queuing up for this ice cream sweet bread right here

  • But I gotta admit: I'm full right now

  • I wouldn't be able to manage it and I'm not sure that ice cream and bread

  • I don't know.. I can't wrap my head around it. Maybe next time.

  • Right now... I'm full.

  • You know what? I'm surrounded by people who are eating and I don't care, I'm going to vlog.

  • I found a spot in the shade and I'm going to enjoy it while I try yet another thing, another street food

  • I'm full so this is probably the last thing... I believe it's called Taiyaki. Again, I'll correct myself if I'm wrong.

  • And they have different fillings. I think traditionally it's filled with red bean paste. This one though is pumpkin.

  • I said I would try pumpkin flavoured stuff when I came to Japan and I'm going to do that right now.

  • This is hot by the way which I wish it wasn't

  • This is amazingly good. It's sweet flavoured, I can taste the pumpkin but it's not overwhelming

  • Inside

  • Definitely delicious. Recommend.

  • I'm gonna sit in the shade, enjoy this.

  • I don't know where I'm going to go afterwards. I'll just check on my map later.

  • So I just got unbelievably lost

  • I was looking for this place, this bridge that I'm just about to cross, across the Sumida river that you see behind me

  • You can also see -hang on - Tokyo Sky Tree

  • And here you can see a part of what they call 'The Golden Turd' which is actually the Super Dry Hall or something like that

  • And the reason I got lost.. well first I got lost because I went in the completely wrong direction to the one I though I was going to

  • And then I had to escape a clingy guy who kept asking me if he could come with me

  • And he was like 'where are you going?' with his translator, Google translate and he was showing me sentences

  • Like 'where are you going? can I come with you? what are you doing here?'

  • I was like: 'I'm walking'

  • He was like 'Are you only walking?'

  • And I was like 'Yeah, I'm only walking, I'm visiting'

  • And after a while he was like 'can I have your Facebook?' and I was like 'no'

  • 'Can I come with you?' and I said 'no, sorry'

  • I hate saying no to people, it puts me in an embarrassing position and I know it shouldn't but I really dislike saying no

  • Sorry and then after a while I was walking really fast and I thought that he was gone

  • But he caught up to me and was like 'can I still get a selfie' and I said 'fine but now leave me alone'

  • He was taking so many selfies and I was like, can I go now?

  • Ok let's cross this bridge. That was an adventure, for sure but first let me show you this view because it's amazing

  • You need to see this. So happy I found this and now we're gonna cross, so yes!

  • Found this little park. I think it's just Sumida Park

  • So I had to walk through it

  • Probably going to get lost again by doing so but I just wanted to find some cool, find some shade

  • All by myself like this, it's a little eerie

  • It's completely empty apart from that guy who just walked by but

  • Empty

  • So hopefully this isn't supposed to be a really weird park

  • And hopefully I can walk through it and I won't have to turn around. Ooh there's something up there.

  • You now what? I just turned and this is what I just found behind me so

  • Guess I did go the right way after all

  • I don't know why I'm going to Tokyo Sky Tree actually...

  • I saw that my next destination was about 1 hour walk away so I said screw it

  • I'm walking towards the Sky Tree

  • I don't know why I'm walking to there but I guess I just want to go there

  • There are probably things to do around. I don't know

  • I'm going to walk to there, maybe rest up for a few minutes and see if I really want to do the 1 hour walk

  • Or I can figure out how to go... it's like a garden place

  • Or if I do want to go there

  • It is pretty impressive though

  • Don't know if you can see it if I turn around. Yeah there it is.

  • Just waiting to cross the road.

  • Found it. Finally

  • I'm afraid to look down in case my legs are gone

  • I finally found the Sky Tree. Took a while.

  • And now we have a nice little music. Aaand...

  • Exactly what I was looking for: an area to sit and watch the Sky Tree.

  • I wonder how much it costs to go up the Sky Tree

  • There are no lines outside so...

  • Let's at least have a look.

  • Guess what guys? I don't know what happened

  • I found myself in the elevator going to the first deck of Tokyo Sky Tree

  • Seriously. I just wanted to sit down and chill outside but I went in and there was no one there

  • I got here in under 5 minutes, I'm not kidding you

  • No queues, no lines, no nothing and it's amazing. It's seriously amazing

  • The elevators are super fast, you whizz up, you feel your ears pop for half a second

  • And then you get this fantastic view.

  • This view.. ok now the lighting is better but you don't get the view

  • This view is perfect. You got the Sumida River to my right

  • What else can I see?

  • I'm going to have a walk around to see what else I can find

  • But honestly guys, if there are no queues like today

  • It's Thursday in October and it must be around 4 pm?

  • 4 or 5 pm

  • Definitely 4 because it's still light. No one there. No one

  • I mean sure you have to pay for a view

  • And from what I've heard the queues are sometimes 50 minutes just to get a ticket

  • And then you have to wait I don't know how long to get in the elevator

  • But... I am so lucky... I can't believe I'm here

  • I wasn't going to come here and now it's worth every frigging yen

  • because the view is.. I mean this camera doesn't do it justice because it's getting dark already, it's a little misty

  • But the view is breathtaking

  • So I'm not really sure what to do right now because the next destination I wanted to go to

  • Is over there and it takes one and a half hours to get there

  • I could check out which transportation I could use but I don't have any connection yet

  • So either

  • See my hostel is there and it's going to take an hour for me to get back

  • It's as you can see past 5pm and it's getting dark already

  • Either I go back to Asakusa Temple where I hear that at night it looks really pretty

  • And then I go back already

  • I can stay here as long as I want but yeah...

  • Or... I don't think I'm going to go to the gardens today

  • I mean it's going to get dark so...

  • Or I just go to another part of the city, I'm no sure yet

  • Ok, I've decided: I'm going to go back

  • I'm going to go back to the Asakusa Temple, cross this river, cross the Sumida River

  • Walk back and appreciate the lights and the cool weather

  • And maybe it'll have a bit of a festival atmophere, o'matsuri atmosphere

  • This right here is pretty neat actually, let me show you

  • So it's completely different at night. Obviously everything is closing now

  • Even the main temple doors are closed

  • But just for the lights it was worth coming back here

  • Bye Asakusa

  • Why? Why? Why? Autofocus!

  • So remember this spot?

  • I was here early this morning and it was super warm. I mean not even warm, it was super hot!

  • I was hiding behind this to get some shadow

  • And now it's still hot.. no actually it's still humid but at least I'm not dying.

  • I'm just dying for a shower maybe... yeah

  • Anyway it feels so nice, it's so beautiful. The lights, the cool breeze...

  • Which is more than welcome

  • Don Quijote open 24 hours. I'm not going back in there. Uh-uh

  • I spent way too much money and it's way too big and... no.

Good morning everybody. It's Thursday

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