Jen and Col's Excellent Adventure

Monday, October 30, 2006

Big in Japan


And on to Japan. We arrived at Tokyo airport to face a new language, a new subway system to negotiate and getting used to not being the star attraction anymore. None of this matters, because the Japanese are just so nice and helpful. We headed off to our hostel (K's House, near Kuramae station, if you're in the area, stay here) which was probably the best we'd seen on our travels, and got acquainted with the sights waiting for us in Tokyo.

Luckily for us, Tokyo is surprisingly quiet on the temple front, and the best one around was a short walk away. Bargain, gave us something to do in the rain - seems there were a couple of tropical storms in the area and the weather was a touch damp and a little on the windy side...


There you go, Sensi-Jo temple. It's either Buddhist or Shinto, and probably quite old.
Thats unlike you Col - so vague on details... do I detect a wee touch of the blase? Maybe I'd better take over for a while.

Where are we, ah yes the typhoon has passed by now, so lets busy ourselves with some non-temple thing such as watching barely dressed people lunge at each other. Its an amateur Sumo match and while some of the competitors obviously take their hobby very seriously and have been scoffing down the pies, others are tiny creatures that I fear will become pancaked during the afternoon.


Now for a quick browse round town. With its electronic and high-tech super stores, posh malls and neon pouring out of every spare pore; Tokyo is a veritable whirlwind. You can catch glimpses of elegant ladies wearing kimono side by side with the latest fashions (it appears that shorts worn with knee high socks and high heels are IN right now).And if this isn't enough the local teenagers dress up at weekends to add that extra touch of surrealism - was that Little Bo Peep I just saw queing up for a Wendy's burger?

Anyway, no time to chat got to get an early night, we're up at 5 tomorrow to go to the famous fish market.

Beep Beep Beep. Wakey wakey rise and shine. Woah don't the subways look empty at this time of day, and the streets are really deserted. And the fish market, it looks like a ghost town. Hold on a sec, shouldn't this place be buzzing with activity? Why is there no-one in the auction room? Something smells very fishy about all this. What's that you say - today is a National holiday and everything is shut?
Right.
Right.


Kababashi road, Steaming bowls of Ramen, the moon festival, tea ceremony in the park, it all passes by in a blur... the bright lights of Shinjuku seem just a bit too sparkly and come 1am I'm ready for bed.

Beep Beep Beep. Wakey wakey rise and shine. Woah don't the subways look busy for this time of day, and the streets are really happening. And the fish market, it's buzzing with activity! Plus something smells very fishy - and thats all the fish :-)


The gentle murmur of mens voices at the giant tuna auction sounds almost like monks chanting. But the peace is lost as soon as you step into the market place, people are setting out their stalls and you have to watch you backs because of the motorised carts rushing about delivering newly purchased fishies. Now normally the last thing you want to do at 6 in the morning is eat raw fish, which is why it came as a surprise to find that we were having a most enjoyable breakfast at the nearby sushi bar. It was actually delicious. Anyway, I'd love to tell you what happens next but i must must have a nap...

...zzzz...

Off to Kyoto on the Shinkansen (that's the 'bullet train') for a few days of temples, temples and more temples. When we left the subway somewhere in Kyoto and asked the guy behind the ticket counter where so and so street was, they had three people looking through maps and one on the phone to the hostel trying to get us directions. They even apologised that they'd taken so long (about 5 minutes), as they handed us precise instructions to get to our hostel. Very helpful those Japanese, it's such a huge change from China.

At the hostel we met up with Paul and Linda, who we'd met in Yangshuo (China), and wandered the city at a leisurely pace. Geisha hunting in Gion was fun if unproductive (back of one head in a taxi and a brief glimpse of one scurrying into a tea house were our only reward) looks like they're all hiding out in a nearby town called Nara...


Geisha and deer seem to be the speciality in Nara. The deer are friendly enough until you feed them. I was trying to go for the Ace Ventura look, which worked for the first 10 seconds. To be honest I think I just got unlucky, it had a weird look in it's eye from the start - I'll have to show the Benny Hill style video when I get back, at least it amused everybody watching.


They look harmless, just keep those biscuits well hidden.

There's temples in Nara too, it's actually why most people make a visit...


Biggest wooden building in the world right there, goes by the name of Todai-Ji. Inside it is an enormous Buddha and some scary looking wooden statues.

Before we go any further allow me to explain, we're not going round Japan looking at temples willy nilly. Oh no. Taking into account 2 things: 1 - there are a lot of temples about and 2 - we have already seen a lot of temples; we started enforcing a few criteria before it got plain silly. In order to get onto the shortlist a sight must meet at least one of the following criteria:
i) be the biggest, tallest, somethingest of its kind
ii) offer a previously unseen feature
iii) be very very cheap and easily reached

Ok. That said, we can offer to you...


A Zen Garden. Minimalist heaven, we haven't had one of those before!


Nijo Castle. It was only round the corner, and we'd walked past it plenty of times before we popped in. Nice too, it's got a 'Nightingale Floor'. It's a medieval burglar alarm - the floor squeaks when you walk on it. It's not just shoddy workmanship, it's a 'feature'. And finally...


The Golden Pavillion. It's a pavillion, and it's made of gold! Tick, and tick! OK, it's not actually made of solid gold, that would be silly (it's gold leaf at best), but it looks pretty good.

Finally, we had a day trip to Himeji. According to the guide book, if you only ever see one Japanese castle, make sure it's Himeji. Now despite the fact we'd already seen our fair share of castles...well OK, we'd seen one castle...we thought it worth a visit. It was only 2 hours on the train and what else were we going to do...


Look at that! Not bad at all. Worth another look we reckon...


So a day in Himeji looking at the castle and the gardens. We even tried to see a museum, but what would you know, it was closed for renovation. At least we tried :-) Back in Kyoto we spent the night in a Manga Cafe - it's what the trendy kids do, beats those Capsule Hotels hands down. You get your own booth with a padded floor, TV, DVD, Playstation, Internet, blankets, cushions and all the comics, magazines and films you want. And the drinks are free! You can have a nap (Jen) or play all night long (Me!).

Back in Tokyo we had another look round and generally wasted time until our flight to Hong Kong. We never did get to see Mt. Fuji, a rare sight it would seem, and we certainly got nowhere near climbing it. Having read the account of Paul and Linda I can't see we're too sorry to have missed out, we've had our fair share of mountain climbing.

So that was our quick tour of Japan. Two weeks, two cities and about two grand later (in Jen's words, watching our budget disappear faster than a biscuit in hot tea...) we're back on the road.

Almost forgot, we had to try the Sushi Train...


You've got to be quick. That trains almost as fast as the Shinkansen.

Thanks Col. I'm awake now. Where are we? Ah yes, cheaper climes, next stop - India.

Time to action Plan A: move on to Delhi asap.
The usually quick call to the airline turns into a 2 1/2 hour phone/fax marathon as I discover all my reservations have mysteriously been cancelled plus the flights to Delhi are fully booked. But we're seasoned travellers now so no worries. Effortlessly move to plan B: Fly to Hong Kong, change planes and fly to Bangkok (stay on the plane) and then on to Bombay.

At the check in desk in Hong Kong we're politely asked where our Visa for India is. A good question. with a not so good answer of 'uh-oh'. It's a Saturday so the Indian Consulate is closed until Monday. quickly make plan C: stay in Hong Kong for a couple of nights then fly to Bombay. That doesn't sound too bad.

However, the airline wants to charge through the nose to fly to Bombay, but Delhi on Monday evening is free! Airlines are a law unto themselves. Plan D: Delhi it is then, with brief stay in HK.

6 hours later we discovered all the Hostels and all the Hotels are full. Even the ridiculously expensive ones. We've tried telephoning, using the internet, reservations desk at the airport, and finally going door to door. A guy we met in a lift suggested we go to Mong Kok where you can rent hotel rooms by the hour.... Hmmmn. Surely we were not that desperate? It's getting dark...

... Plan E. Do you remember a few blogs back I met a whole load of new family? Cousin Natasha was pretty suprised to hear we were back in the country but rose to the occasion brilliantly. Sigh of relief. A couple of days in Hong Kong, free accommodation, and a fantastic (expensive) lunch courtesy of Natasha.

Monday morning, Indian Consulate. Visas are tricky things apparently and it will take a week to get one, plus a national holiday on wednesday so maybe even longer. By the time we get to India it'll be time to go home again. We're on the last leg of our RTW ticket and our last flight home is 6th November.

Time to formulate Plan F: f*&% it



So that my friends is why we're currently at Le Meridien Beach and Spa resort, Khao lak, Thailand. Twelve nights of luxury free courtesy of my hotel points, 3 pools, a private beach and endless sunshine... Come on now, we needed a Holiday :-)


Please excuse me... it's time for my Windsurfing lesson...

4 Comments:

  • You guys make me sick. ;-P

    But it's true, after all those temples you really do need a holiday. Looking forward to seeing you in January (hopefully). We've got someone tracking down tickets for you, so hopefully it works out.

    Talk to you soon.

    -d

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:07 pm  

  • blimey, in the space you've been on holiday i've got married, changed jobs and had a kid!!! Has a year really passed so quickly!? - time really does fly, especially when you're having fun galavanting around the globe.

    Enjoy Thailand (again).. blighty awaits your return with bitterly cold weather :0) but at least you have luxury loo paper here!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:31 am  

  • So this is it, then? The last comment (sniff)? Well, it's been a pleasure over all these months.

    But you obviously need a break from travelling as - and I think you may not have noticed this - you were actually eating and enjoying raw fish at 6.00am.

    Still, I'm sure the Meridien has lots of international breakfast brands available.

    Have a fun flight home. I say that but it never is, is it? Just look forward to the loos at Heathrow.

    By Blogger Tom, at 3:44 pm  

  • Your last leg spent in luxury? that doesn't sound right! Jen

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:18 pm  

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