:00:08. > :00:17.Our holiday let in Japan's old imperial capital. Why renting a
:00:18. > :00:50.piece of history could preserve it for the future. Hello and welcome to
:00:51. > :00:53.the Travel Show. This week we are in Japan, where a little later in the
:00:54. > :00:57.show I will be looking inside some of the country's most historic
:00:58. > :01:03.homes, to find out why they are the latest hot property items for
:01:04. > :01:07.overseas property buyers. Here is what else we have coming up for you
:01:08. > :01:14.today. We are heading underground with the opal miners of South
:01:15. > :01:20.Australia. Some people say that opal miners are crazy, we think we are
:01:21. > :01:24.normal. And our global guru is he with his top tips. This week he has
:01:25. > :01:28.tips on how to combat altitude sickness on board the world's
:01:29. > :01:39.highest train ride, and how to get the most out of your hard earned
:01:40. > :01:43.cash in Argentina. But first, it is known as one of the most beautiful
:01:44. > :01:48.cities in Japan, with Sareen Gardens, colourful shrines and
:01:49. > :02:02.temples dating back thousands of years --. It is also home to one of
:02:03. > :02:07.the only surviving geisha districts. Because it was one of the cities to
:02:08. > :02:13.escape bombing during World War Two, up until recently much of care to
:02:14. > :02:20.look untouched by the 20th century. With many of its traditional wooden
:02:21. > :02:24.townhouses, known locally as machiya, still standing. Now many
:02:25. > :02:28.are under the threat of being bulldozed to make room for new
:02:29. > :03:08.earthquake proof and air-conditioned apartment blocks.
:03:09. > :03:13.Only 28,000 traditional machiya still exist in Kyoto. That might
:03:14. > :03:20.sound like a lot, but when you consider that this is a city of
:03:21. > :03:28.almost 750,000 million homes, it is no wonder people are worried. But
:03:29. > :03:31.there is hope for these historic homes in the shape of foreign
:03:32. > :03:38.investors think to buy a holiday home here in Kyoto. This is one of
:03:39. > :03:46.our properties. It has ten bedrooms, and the price is 100 million yen.
:03:47. > :03:50.That is just under $1 million. This looks like a tiny house, I can't
:03:51. > :03:56.believe it has ten bedrooms! Will make it is not very wide but it is
:03:57. > :04:07.long in the back. This place is huge! It has 280 square metres. I
:04:08. > :04:11.would never have guessed! This reinforces stability, this
:04:12. > :04:16.structure, and it creates Bideau mentions to the space. It is
:04:17. > :04:23.beautiful. This is the place for carpenters to show their skills. It
:04:24. > :04:30.is like a movie set. Look at this kitsch and! I have never seen a
:04:31. > :04:37.stove like this. It is rare. How wild would it be? About the same as
:04:38. > :04:41.the house, 128 years. I wouldn't know how to operate something like
:04:42. > :04:47.this -- kitchen. It is like stepping back in time. What are people
:04:48. > :04:51.looking for when they buy a machiya? They are usually looking for a
:04:52. > :04:55.second house, but some people actually want to move into Kyoto
:04:56. > :05:00.from abroad. Who are your clients, whereas a from? Mainly from
:05:01. > :05:07.Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and America. Many overseas buyers are
:05:08. > :05:11.also drawn by the plummeting yen, which has lost a third of its value
:05:12. > :05:16.against the dollar over the past few years. Once these foreigners have
:05:17. > :05:21.fought their traditional holiday home, many choose to rent it out. A
:05:22. > :05:25.modest machiya in this bustling tourist city can fetch as much as
:05:26. > :05:35.150 dollars a night in the high season. So, I decided to try out one
:05:36. > :05:41.of these historic holiday lets for myself. Luckily the phone is
:05:42. > :05:48.e-mailed me a detailed map, so I think it is down here. This looks
:05:49. > :05:57.really residential. It says it is down a little alley, let's have a
:05:58. > :06:11.look. Found it! This is a bit of a high-tech door code. We are in.
:06:12. > :06:13.There are Western-style beds, and I'm a bit relieved. Usually you
:06:14. > :06:19.would be sleeping on traditional maps on the floor. Space wise, this
:06:20. > :06:25.machiya is about the size of a studio apartment. There is a
:06:26. > :06:33.kitchen, a microwave oven, a table, a TV. There is even a washing
:06:34. > :06:40.machine. This is cute. Check out the bath! Or should I say bucket... The
:06:41. > :06:43.bathroom was on the small side, but overall my stay was pleasant enough
:06:44. > :06:48.with all the creature comforts of home. While I know not all Kerkar
:06:49. > :06:52.homes look like this, staying in a residential street and renting my
:06:53. > :06:56.own traditional house made me feel a little bit like a local, and that is
:06:57. > :07:04.something of growing number of travellers are looking for. -- Kyoto
:07:05. > :07:07.homes. If you want to see things historical, here is the travel guide
:07:08. > :07:13.on where to rest your head on heritage bet. Head over to Florence
:07:14. > :07:17.in the north of Italy and you could be sleeping under a canopy of 16th
:07:18. > :07:22.century frescoes and mosaics. This hotel dates back to the 15th
:07:23. > :07:25.century. Once a week there is a traditional communal Tuscan dinner,
:07:26. > :07:29.which recalls its history as a gathering place for the wealthiest
:07:30. > :07:35.families of the city. In Switzerland, you will find this
:07:36. > :07:40.family owned establishment. It has hosted countless royal guests, and
:07:41. > :07:43.apparently Alfred Nobel was inspired to create his international peace
:07:44. > :07:49.prize here at the end of the 19th century. Go now and you may still
:07:50. > :07:52.brush shoulders with mobility, and with its vantage point overlooking
:07:53. > :07:58.Lake Zurich, you will have one of the best views in the city. For
:07:59. > :08:03.many, nothing says heritage like a good old European castle. Thornbury
:08:04. > :08:08.Castle in England's south-west has a 500 year history. Including a stay
:08:09. > :08:13.from King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn on their honeymoon tour. Hop across
:08:14. > :08:20.to the west of Ireland that you could be stepping back to the 17th
:08:21. > :08:31.century. King Henry V, Ronald Reagan and John Wayne Havell stayed here.
:08:32. > :08:34.-- have all stayed here. Time now to leave the past behind and step into
:08:35. > :08:41.the present. Here is your travel update.
:08:42. > :08:45.Officials in Rome say they are tightening security at some of the
:08:46. > :08:50.historic sites in the city, as they prepare to welcome millions of
:08:51. > :08:56.pilgrims for the Roman Catholic holy year. There will be new metal
:08:57. > :09:01.detectors at the Colosseum. A man was protesting about new public 40
:09:02. > :09:06.laws last year and he managed to climb up onto an outside left.
:09:07. > :09:09.Belgium has employed its cat population to help the tourist trade
:09:10. > :09:14.recover from the recent security alert. The tourist boards made this
:09:15. > :09:18.cat think promotional video after residents flooded social media with
:09:19. > :09:23.pictures of their pets during the five-day lockdown. December is
:09:24. > :09:27.normally a busy time for the hotels and restaurants as people arrive to
:09:28. > :09:33.visit the Christmas markets. The threat level has now been lowered.
:09:34. > :09:37.Beijing has issued its highest smog alerts so far this year. The orange
:09:38. > :09:44.status is the second highest possible. At one stage, the readings
:09:45. > :09:49.were 17 times greater than the level considered safe by the World Health
:09:50. > :09:50.Organization. Some reports say visibility was down to a few hundred
:09:51. > :10:31.metres in some places. Lets finish with happy news in
:10:32. > :10:33.Mexico, where crowds came to see millions of striking orange and
:10:34. > :10:40.black monarch butterflies heading off to their winter home. 3000 mile
:10:41. > :10:43.mass migration goes from as far as Canada all the way down to the
:10:44. > :11:13.California coast and central Mexico.
:11:14. > :11:19.Stay with us on the Travel Show, because coming up next... Simon is
:11:20. > :11:40.he with his top tips on how you can get the best out of your money in
:11:41. > :11:43.Argentina. If we wanted to make an extra bedroom or have mother-in-law
:11:44. > :12:04.coming, we would dig at another room. Welcome to the slice of the
:12:05. > :12:08.show that tackles your questions about getting the best out of
:12:09. > :12:13.travel. We are off on a train to Tibet shortly, but first column with
:12:14. > :12:17.peak season approaching in South Africa there is concern about the
:12:18. > :12:21.tricky new rules for anyone under 18 travelling to the country, even if
:12:22. > :12:25.they are only changing planes in Johannesburg. When both parents are
:12:26. > :12:27.travelling with the child you will need to carry an unabridged birth
:12:28. > :12:33.certificate showing parental details. If only the mother or
:12:34. > :12:37.father is travelling, then the other parent has to complete a consent
:12:38. > :12:43.affidavit, either through a lawyer or at the South African embassy.
:12:44. > :12:52.Eileen Reins free is about to travel the world's highest railway. I am
:12:53. > :12:59.concerned about the altitude. This is one of the world's great rail
:13:00. > :13:03.journeys, trains from three cities run to the Tibetan capital on the
:13:04. > :13:10.highest railway in the world, reaching 16,640 feet. That is above
:13:11. > :13:14.Western Europe's highest mountain. The train carriages have a special
:13:15. > :13:18.ventilation system that delivers air enriched with oxygen, and in
:13:19. > :13:24.addition each passenger has access to an individual oxygen supply. I
:13:25. > :13:29.haven't yet travelled on this line but I have taken it to Bolivia,
:13:30. > :13:35.which goes almost as high. My main concern wasn't oxygen shortage, it
:13:36. > :13:40.is the cold, so take 20 of warm clothes. Gabrielle is also going to
:13:41. > :13:59.extremes, planning an Alaskan cruise.
:14:00. > :14:04.American's electronic system for travel authorisation is basically to
:14:05. > :14:08.check your details against a range of watch list, and to establish if
:14:09. > :14:15.there is anything about you that demands a closer look. Once you have
:14:16. > :14:19.a ballade number you are clear to apply for entry, and that your first
:14:20. > :14:24.port the officer will clarify your plans. For subsequent ports you will
:14:25. > :14:31.be regarded as a domestic passenger into the deep the US. Ian is heading
:14:32. > :14:41.thousands of miles south to the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires.
:14:42. > :14:46.But he says... Take a wad of fresh, clean US dollars in denominations
:14:47. > :14:49.from $10 to 100. At the international airport, pay for the
:14:50. > :14:52.fast frequent bus to the city centre with a credit card, then put away
:14:53. > :14:56.the plastic for the rest of the trip. Your Hotel staff will
:14:57. > :15:03.recommend the best and safest place to change money. If you plan to
:15:04. > :15:09.explore beyond the city to anywhere more rural, change money before you
:15:10. > :15:13.go. Outside the big cities the options and rates are not so
:15:14. > :15:14.favourable. Finally, Claire, who lives on the Greek island of Crete,
:15:15. > :15:29.says... What a great opportunity to explore
:15:30. > :15:35.the Grand Canyon State, the biggest danger will be simple road safety.
:15:36. > :15:38.And I'm sure she'll be careful and drive defensively. My only other
:15:39. > :15:42.observation, she will be travelling through a wonderful state and might
:15:43. > :15:48.want to share the journey through Arizona with a friend or a parent!
:15:49. > :15:51.Global Guru is the element of the travel show that aims to help with
:15:52. > :16:00.every aspect of your journey. So just e-mail. And I will do my very
:16:01. > :16:05.best to find you an answer. From me, Simon Calder, the Global Guru,
:16:06. > :16:10.goodbye for now and see you next time. Next up we are off the
:16:11. > :16:14.southern Australia, where 100 years ago this year miners found a vast
:16:15. > :16:21.seam of global and a highly profitable industry was born. --
:16:22. > :16:24.opal. The only problem was that temperatures above ground made life
:16:25. > :16:35.unbearable so the global community dug in and built their town below
:16:36. > :16:39.ground. The appeal of Coober Pedy, it is the vastness. There is no
:16:40. > :16:43.other place like it. It is very unique, not just the opal but the
:16:44. > :16:49.area, the countryside around it. The people themselves, everybody is an
:16:50. > :16:55.individual, you hear people saying there is a lot of characters in
:16:56. > :16:59.town. Some people some us up as everybody in Coober Pedy, or opal
:17:00. > :17:11.miners, are crazy. We think we are normal.
:17:12. > :17:22.I found a beautiful opal. My first find in Coober Pedy, my brother said
:17:23. > :17:28.come out and I will show you what we're going to look for. I thought
:17:29. > :17:34.ho-hum, a couple of stones. I'm going back up to the car. And as I
:17:35. > :17:38.walked up, I pick up a piece probably only two millimetres or
:17:39. > :17:41.three millimetres thick and it was a perfect green crystal and I turned
:17:42. > :17:50.around and said is this what we are looking for? We had $15,000. Opal
:17:51. > :17:54.mining is what Coober Pedy is all about, that is why Coober Pedy
:17:55. > :18:04.exists. There was nobody living within this region before opal was
:18:05. > :18:07.discovered by a 14-year-old boy named Woody Hutchinson. And then
:18:08. > :18:12.took off in the 1960s and that is when our lot of one was coming out
:18:13. > :18:19.of Coober Pedy, literally millions of dollars. 50% of opal miners will
:18:20. > :18:30.go broke. 1% will get exceptionally wealthy. Coober Pedy was a very old
:18:31. > :18:35.town, and about 80% of the population live underground. It is
:18:36. > :18:41.distinguishable by either 44 gallon drums above the ground or poly pipe,
:18:42. > :18:45.and if you see that, that is their air shaft. That is how they get
:18:46. > :18:48.oxygen into their rooms underground. People live in dugouts for the
:18:49. > :18:52.project control. It is warm in winter and cool in summer. The
:18:53. > :18:58.temperature can get up to 50 degrees in some here. Average of 45 over the
:18:59. > :19:03.summer months, but it is a constant 21 to 25 degrees in a particular
:19:04. > :19:07.home here. Maintenance internally, you just have to be careful that
:19:08. > :19:12.there is no cracks in the wall. You have matchsticks in the ceiling,
:19:13. > :19:16.they have been here 20 odd years and if they are on the ground in the
:19:17. > :19:19.morning we know that the ground has moved. This is our bedroom, this is
:19:20. > :19:23.where we slip down here. And you will notice that the walls are a
:19:24. > :19:26.natural colour. There is a bit of a pinkish tinge, but this is the
:19:27. > :19:31.natural colour of the sandstone. There is no windows in this room but
:19:32. > :19:35.we get our air from the actual shaft. It is very quiet, very dark
:19:36. > :19:46.and very peaceful, and we get a very good night's sleepy. So if we wanted
:19:47. > :19:48.to make an extra bedroom, or have mother-in-law coming, we would dig
:19:49. > :19:51.out another room. And if we were fortunate enough to find a seam of
:19:52. > :19:56.Opal, so be it. This here, this is one of the most accessible opal
:19:57. > :20:02.mines in Coober Pedy. All dug out by hand, with pick, shovel, and Barrow.
:20:03. > :20:06.Moving the dirt by hand. And there was actually a time, especially in
:20:07. > :20:10.the olden days, where they could walk from one side of Coober Pedy to
:20:11. > :20:15.the other underground. This is what it's all about. This is what we come
:20:16. > :20:19.here for, to find opal. You just never know when this opal is going
:20:20. > :20:24.to turn into something amazing, maybe hundreds of thousands of
:20:25. > :20:32.dollars worth of opal. The reality is, in this establishment, we do
:20:33. > :20:37.have anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 of rough opal still in the
:20:38. > :20:44.wall. Now this machine is called... We are now a tourist attraction. We
:20:45. > :20:48.see about 20,000 visitors a year so in essence we are still a mining
:20:49. > :21:01.establishment every single day, except there are tourists making
:21:02. > :21:04.claims. Well, that's all we've got time for in this edition of the
:21:05. > :21:10.show. I hope you've enjoyed joining us on our travels. And don't forget,
:21:11. > :21:13.you can come on our journeys in real-time by joining our social
:21:14. > :21:18.media feeds. The details are on your screen now. Coming up next week: we
:21:19. > :21:22.are in London, where one hotel has just opened the most expensive suite
:21:23. > :21:28.in the city. We are there on launch day to see what ?24,000 a night will
:21:29. > :21:32.buy you. Most of the contract is and supplies will be leaving the sweet
:21:33. > :21:38.at about 6am and your arrival is about nine a.m.. Have you got any
:21:39. > :21:46.whites? We've got paint on the carpet. And how good is your
:21:47. > :21:51.gloving? Christer is in the States to CF Pele's latest craze is likely
:21:52. > :21:55.to spread to the rest of the world. It is a very strange thing, all of
:21:56. > :22:01.this. You can see how much training has gone into these performances.
:22:02. > :22:05.It's kind of amazing. Join us for that if you can, and don't forget to
:22:06. > :22:15.send us your travel pics and by using the hashtag #TravelTuesday,
:22:16. > :22:19.they will be seen by us. From me and the rest of the team, it's goodbye.