Birthday Bird.

Hi everyone! And a massive THANK-YOU to all who sent me a Birthday greeting and an even bigger thanks to those who sent money too! How kind of you all the remember me. I bet you're all secretly quite pleased that I'm not there. For anyone who hasn't spent a birthday with me, it generally follows the same pattern. Firstly, I never work on my birthday, and usually treat myself to a massage and/or facial. Then, I round up all my friends, having booked an expensive restaurant and demand to be taken for cocktails, safe in the knowledge that I've taken the following three days off work. I will have spent the preceeding week mentioning various activities, to glean an understanding of what everyone will be up for. This way, I manage to stretch the celebrations out over a whole week, seeing people in small, manageable groups which ultimately (I tell myself) benefits everyone involved. So, you can all rest easy, as there is only Andy to cope with me. The only stipulation is that he has to say "Happy Birthday Pet" every three to four hours.


He has done exceedingly well so far. We are presently residing in 4* luxury in a wonderful place called La Residence. It is LOVELY and it is sparklingly clean with all the usual brilliant things. There is a massive, very comfortable bed and a mini bar containing gin & Pringles (not allowed to use this though). There is an outdoor swimming pool, which I'm going to brave in a minute (even though it's raining). There are pristine white towels and dressing gowns and a spa (unfortunately closed) and endless hotwater and you can even drink the tap water! No more picking out the ice-cubes and avoiding salad for Birthday Girl! We have our own cheap local beer on ice and are about to crack one or two open. I might even sneak a bit of room service when Andy's not looking...

So here's to being 30. (Not 40, thanks Bison) And heres to becoming more sagely with each passing year. There is nothing to fear about reaching this landmark and I'm just glad I could do something to make my older friends feel better.

Driving...the Vietnamese Way

Driving in Vietnam is a little differrent from at home. I haven't done any myself, but I've been studying the ways of the Vietnamese driver closely. They drive on the 'right' side of the road here and basically that means which ever side of the road they are driving on at any given moment, is the 'right' side. We've travelled in a few transit buses now and its an un-nerving experience to say the least. Most of the road traffic are mopeds, with the odd car and massive lorry to make up the numbers. The roads are also full of bicycles, women pushing mobile ovens (see above) and basically anything that you can fit on a set of wheels, even the occasional water buffalo (not seen on wheels yet). The trick it seems is to honk your horn at anything that vaguely gets close to you, to honk if you are over-taking (on either side) and to really honk if someone isn't getting out of your way fast enough! Honking is also used to attract attention, genrally by taxi's and mopeds who would like to give you a ride in their death-trap for cash. I learnt alot on our way to Halong bay and back about their driving rules. I learn't for example that once you have over-taken your chosen victim, why not stay on the other side of the road? Then just before a bus coming your way obliterates you, move back onto your side of the road, it's so obvious. My favourite one though, is that old classic, over-taking on a blind hill. Brilliant. There's nothing like coasting over the brow of a hill to find a lorry heading in your direction, or a moped, or nothing, that's the 'fun' part :) That's why we mainly take the train :) I'm looking forward to sampling the driving of other South East Asian countrys soon.

Glad I didn't pack the suncream...

Greetings from Hazy Halong Bay! This place might well be a UENESCO site of wonderment...but we can't see it! Again, glad we booked a room with a view. Halong Bay is an archipelago of 3,000 islands, the largest of which is Cat Ba island. This is where I thought we might spend a nice relaxing week in the sun, but alas, the weather is driving us Southwards in search of warmth and a blue sky. We ventured out on a sampan today for a few hours and had a jaunt around a few of the islands. We saw a couple of pretty impressive caves full of stalactites and mites, all nicely lit in neon. The boat ride itself was a bit chilly though, so we sought shelter inside the boat...only to be offered a pearl necklace. They are cultivated in the bay and are ridiculuosly cheap, but as I am only half the required age for such an adornment, I politely declined.

The Vietnamese, it seems, will try to sell you anything. Picture the scene - we had just travelled for 24 hours to get here from Sapa and were looking a bit grumpy and bedraggled, all saddled up with our four rucksacks, not having had a great amount of sleep on the train. And what were we offered more times than I could count? A lift on a motorbike. For both of us. With all our worldly posessions. I mean, be sensible! And aside from a motorbike, I didn't much fancy a cabbage or a pack of postcards at 5:30am either. And one refusal does nothing to thwart the attempts of the next vendor. You are simply offered the same thing again and again and again. And then you are followed down the street and harangued for anything upto ten minutes. Just trying to set the scene here, for anyone who has never visited Asia or India. Usually, I can cope with such business, but how dare anyone even try it when I've had no sleep?

Sometimes, the selling tactics are quite ingenious. One day a lady said I was beautiful and that was enough to have me buying a Vietnamese phrasebook before I could say "Khong!" (No). On another occasion, we bought a fake guide book for twice the price from a man who said that Andy looked strong! I suppose he does, comparatively. So I've been using that one a lot...especially when I can't fit my toiletry bag into my rucksack.

If this all sounds a bit moanie, it's just to make you lot at home feel better about us being on holiday for a year. Another disturbing feature of Halong Bay (besides the weather) is that it seems to be famous for cock-fighting! Very worrying, given the current climate of the avian world. There are these amphitheatres with pits at the bottom for the action. They get down and dirty too and put spurs on the ankles of the birds. Nasty business. A public health issue eh Dr. Hollinshead? I'm sure you could set up business here. In fact, my motorbike driver (I had to succumb in the end) said if I studied a bit harder, I could become a doctor if I wanted. I replied that I very much didn't, so he suggested that I set up a nurses office in my home instead. Much rather make cakes...

I'm sure this place is stunning when the sun shines ... shame we didn't come here in a couple on months' time. On account of the weather, we are bypassing Cat Ba island (my original choice of Birhday destination) and heading further south. So, we are off on that beloved sleeper train to Hue, which looks like a very exciting place...and maybe a little warmer?

Blog Technical Issues

Due to Vietnamese technical problems we are unable to view our own blog at times, so if we don't reply to any comments posted straight away, we will catch up. Weirdly we can still manage to update the blog, this country... :)

Splendid Sapa

Hi Kids! We arrived in Sapa on the Orient Express (or something similar) at 6am this morning. It felt slightly Agatha Christie until you visited the loo, and then all those memories of Em in India came flooding back. The 'Delux' sleeping carriage meant that you got a pre-wrapped bread roll and a manky cushion (se opposite). Still, it was cosy enough and we shared our bunk area with a very friendly Canadian-Vietnamese guy who gave us lots of oranges. After a fitful night's sleep (although Andy would surmise I slept like a log), we arrived in the mountains. A short busride up, put us 1500m above sea level and in our new abode - The Mountain View hotel. As a treat, Andy suggested we go posh and get a delux room (this is becoming a bit of a habit) as this promised to afford fabulous views of the mountains (I guess that's where the name comes in). However, the whole place was entirely shrouded in a big duvet of mist - and I mean a real pea-souper!

We can't actually see anything out of our window, but that's O.K. Feeling like there must be a way out of the situation, we took a jeep a bit further up the road and within about three minutes, it was a beautiful, sunny day. The spectacular mountains and winding roads were revealed. Thank goodness - I'd almost taken a hill tribes person back to the hotel instead of Andy, the visibilty was so bad. We have made friends already - there are many women and girls wanting to sell their handicrafts to you. The young girls speak very good English and already know everything about me. It can be a bit waring after a while though, fighting your way through a sea of silver and cushion covers. And you should see the hats they're trying to get Andy to buy - it's a look that would just never work.

The next day...Today was a BRILLIANT day! We did a 15km guided trek through the mountains. Along the way we passed through three different hill tribes and met with many women and children selling their handicrafts. The most beautiful children with the most stunning mountain scenery as a backdrop - we went photo crazy. The first village we passed though was Lao Chai which is inhabited by the H'Mong people. We then went on to Ta Van, where the Zay tribe live. After stopping for lunch with Sho, our trusty guide, we headed for the final village, Giang Ta Chai, where the Red Zao tribe really laid on the hard sell. It's very difficult saying "No" all the time - occasionally I will buy something small if I take a photo or something, and I did end up with a rather hideous bag I would never have bought at home. The old emotional blackmail was brought into play as the woman selling it reminded me we had just been shown around her home! Still, I managed to keep Andy away from those hats! When is he going to grow his beard and put beads in it, I wonder?

Sapa is a former hill station close to the Chinese border. Although the official language is Vietnamese, children still learn their local languages. Some children go to school, but many remain illiterate. Despite this, it seemed all of the children we met were equipped with a good command of conversational English and French (even the tiny ones). They have learnt these languages from travellers and shows one of the benefits gained from the ever-increasing levels of tourism in Vietnam. Sho, our guide is only 19 years old. She never went to school, but is clearly very intelligent and her English very good. She earns about $60 per month, doing around three treks per week in the quiet season (every day in the summer) yet we paid the hotel $40 for our trek...so I wonder who is benefiting here?

The Red Zao women are easily recognizable by their elaborate clothing, with its intricate embroidery and silver jewellery. They shave their eyebrows and half of their hair and wear a red turban.

The H'Mong are one of the largest ethnic groups in Vietnam. They worships spirits and make their living by cultivating rice and opium. There are several groups within the H'Mong, to include Black, White, Green, Red and Flower and each has its own dress code. The Black H'Mong, some of whom we met along the way are characterised by their indigo-dyed clothing consisting of aprons, skirts and leggings. The leggings are actually long lengths of black velvet wrapped round the legs - something I know I'd be able to carry off nicely.

We visited a school and saw the outside of the hospital - not quite the Royal Sussex County. There were lots of water buffalo along the way and some very cute black piglets, not to mention the dreaded chickens. Still, they didn't appear to have dribbly beaks but we kept our distance! I tried to order eggs for breakfast, but they too are off the menu to us.

After all that activity, we went out for dinner with our new friends - Michael & Karen. We had some splendid sizzling beef and pork with rice and beensprouts, washed down with some Hanoi beer.
We are going to leave this misty place later tonight, as we are freezing and our rooms had no heating. We are heading for Halong Bay, where I will sit and await my 30th Birthday with an air of anxious intrepidation. Surely, being that age will mean I deserve to stay in a 5 star establishment with the luxury of hot water and a clean bed. It troubles me to note that it will set you back 7 quid for a glass of the old vino in this town. So, it's back to the Tiger for me (and I'm not referring to Andrew there). I can't wait to get on that overnight train again. At each jostle I'm convinced we are de-railing, which sort of disrupts my sleeping (don't listen to Em & Andy about my ability to sleep anywhere). So long beautiful (but weird) Sapa.

Please be enjoying our Sapa slideshow.
Please to be enjoying our final Japan slideshow :)

Good Afternoon Vietnam...

Hey there readers! After four days in Hanoi we are now about to wheeze our way up to Sapa in the mountains...a bit of fresh air and beauty is all we ask for! It's been a bit of a weird one, as outlined by my beloved, but today, beyond the polluted air, there seems to be a glimpse of sunshine. Seeing Uncle Ho was definitely the highlight...you've never seen security like it. It would seem that I have a very dodgy air about me, for at every turn of the trip I have been searched, probed with a detector stick and asked many questions. I am generally misinterpreted in everyday life at home and find the most serious of situations hilarious...entering the mausoleum was no different. The guards made me very nervous and they were carrying these huge harpoon things (oh, bayonets, apparently)...as we walked in there I had a sudden urge to laugh (nerves, I think). Thank God I didn't. Still, I am approaching 30 with great velocity, so I might grow up yet. It was very interesting, seeing the man who liberated the Vietnamese from colonialism, but I couldn't help but feel for him...he only wanted a simple cremation and now he is gawped at daily by hundreds of people. Still, more than 30 years on, they seem to have done a good job.

We then cheered ourselves up by checking into a top-notch hotel.
The toilets here rival those in Japan! Not really, this is actually
Hao Lo prison, dubbed the "Hanoi Hilton"...quite gruesome viewing - especially the photos of poisoned, decapitated heads. So all in all, a great day. Made even greater by my 3 quid haircut. I've never had a do like it. First of all they wash your hair (I know, unusual)...except they do it for 45 minutes. It did include some sort of mini facial and an Indian head massage, not to mention an ear-clean - yeah, she really did shove her fingers in my ears!
Then a very masterful trim and blowdry/straighten. I was so
pleased with the result, I left a 6p tip - how embarrassing! Still
haven't got used to the currency...Andy is usually the one to get
his dong out, so I don't have much to do with the money side of
things. Well, Andy made me go back and leave a proper tip, only
for him to descibe my new hair as "thin, but nice."

So after all this excitement, I happened upon the most expensive restaurant in Hanoi (well, it was about time for a treat). "Bobby Chinn's," named after its owner and chef, felt extremely posh and the food was lovely. It took some persuading on my part to get Andy to spend the equivalent of four nights accommodation on a meal, but I got there in the end. Bobby himself put in an appearance and swaggered about the place with customers falling all over him. Had my first glass of wine in 5 weeks! It would seem he is the local equivalent of Jamie Oliver, but with more of a God-complex.

We've been staying in the Old Quarter, which certainly looks (and smells) old. Only a short walk away is Hoan Kiem Lake (Lake of the Restored Sword). Legend has it that a giant golden tortoise once lived in the lake. One day, he swam to the surface and grabbed the magical sword of Emperor Ly Thai To. This was the sword he had used to drive the Chinese out of Vietnam so quite important, and the tortoise returned the sword to its divine owners. Anyway, tortoises are perported to still live in the lake - one was spotted and photographed in 2002. Poor things, the water is rancid. There is a temple (not another one!) on the lake with an enbalmed 2.1m long tortoise (except it's a turtle)...the photo of which was too disturbing to post. Thap Rua (Tortoise Tower) is on the Southern end of the lake and is used as a symbol of Hanoi (see left).

We also popped into the Temple of Literature which was O.K. in a kind of decaying elegance sort of way. It was built in 1010 and is just about falling apart. We wonder just how much more acid rain the old buildings can take before they crumble to the ground. You are pretty much allowed to walk on or touch whatever you please, which can't help preserve things. The best bit about this place was the shop! On display were some great water puppets (even though they look quite sinister) - these have been used for generations in the theatre as a sort of Punch and Judy in a swimming pool. Even better, was the snake wine on offer. Bottle upon bottle of rancid creatures from snakes to beetles to scorpians - and people actually drink this stuff! You better all be grateful it's nobody's birthday coming up...except maybe Grandpa John's!?

The local delicacies have generally been quite fascinating. Some things are unidentifiable, others too scarily obvious. About 10km from here is a road entirely dedicated to dog meat restaurants. I would be interested to know what kind of dogs they use for this purpose - I mean, are the little ones better, enabling you to munch away on a paw in place of a chicken drumstick? (Incidently, chicken is off the menu here - as I discovered when I tried to order a sarnie for lunch, secondary to bird 'flu mania.) Or are the big ones better, enabling a kind of carving action to take place. Do they remove the heads (and tails) first? And what kind of accompanying items are best? Is there a have a "pick you own" system? I tell you, this is right up Em's street. There seems to be a fair bit of brain on display (of unknown origin), and horse meat too, as you wander though the street food stalls.

We braved a local place the other night and ate what resembled Vietnamese spring rolls. We only dared look it up afterwards, for fear we had actually been eating spider pancakes. They were very yummy though and for dinner & drinks for a quid, you can't really argue. Another good thing is pho - a kind of delicately flavoured broth with rice noodles - so we have a replacement for our beloved ramen! Mostly eaten for breakfast, they set you up for the day ahead. So I say cheers to Hanoi for its hair salons, pho and cheap Tiger beer. See you in Sapa. (Note the thin hair)

Vietnam....Hanoi

Hanoi is ever so slightly different from Tokyo. They have some definite similarities. They are both capital cities, erm and they're both busy places. Thats it. Hanoi is a world away from Japan and it's been a real culture shock, especially to me. I'm just starting to get in to the swing of things now, but it's a really strange experience. We flew into Hanoi on Friday, getting it at mid-day. This was after 24 hours of travelling from Tokyo to Singapore, where we had to hang out at the airport from 2.30am till our flight at 10am. Singapore airport's not a bad place to hang out, free internet and xbox, but trying to sleep on airport seats is a bit crap. We strode out of the airport and onto our airport minibus to run us into town ($2 each). It took about 1/2 hour to reach our hotel, which was 1/2 hour of the driver tooting his horn at every other vehicle we passed and this it turns out, is what they all do! I was amazed to see your stereotypical image of Vietnam (conical hat wearing farmers in paddy fields) as soon as we left the airport, but there it was, water buffalo too :) The rest of the drive was a dusty whirlwind of grey and mopeds really. Our hotel is a nice one, very clean and comes with free breakie all for 4 quid each. Its called Stars hotel, the website photos are slightly deceiving as always, but none the less, its very good.
Hanoi hits you in the face like a massive, grey, moped really. Or rather like a few thousand mopeds. Crossing the road is a bit like playing frogger, but you have to avoid mopeds. You wait for a slight break in the rush and then walk at a steady pace, so that they can see you and hopefully avoid you, which they have so far :) Walking around is a bit hasselie, as in people are asking you if you want a ride somewhere on their moped, or their cyclo, or their taxi, or trying to sell you books, doughnuts on sticks? or various other things. Starting to get a bit immune to it now, smiling, saying "No" and carrying on walking at the same time. On the main roads (there's loads) the pollution is pretty grim, I feel like I've started smoking again, I bet Ventolin sales are through the roof here! All in all, the Hanoi environment is not the best I've experienced and tomorrow night we are off to Sapa, which is in the mountains, so we should get some fresh air and less crowds hopefuly :)
I've been fairly negative about Vietnam so far and I can hear Sam's voice in my head now, telling me to shut up moaning :) But, there are some positives. By the way, I'm in an internet cafe at the mo, whilst Sam is having her hair cut at Tony and Guy for 3 pounds :) It normally costs her 100! Positives then. This morning we went to see Ho Chi Minh. Actually we went to see his embalmed body at the mausoleum, which was quite a surreal experience! He died in 1969 and apparently against his wish, his body has been at the mausoleum ever since, except for 3 months every year, when he goes to Russia to get serviced. The queue was absolutely massive, but fairly speedy. You can't take cameras, phones or anything like that in and so there is an x-ray machine and bag searches. It's still a commie country and so there are guards dressed in green with peaked caps and red stars and all that kind of thing and so you feel a bit nervous as they're keeping an eye on you, making sure you're not disrespecting Uncle Ho! So I had my bag with me and I was told it was to big to take in, so I had to go back down the queue to the bag keeping place, where they took my Lonely Planet book out of the bag, gave me my bag back and the book to carry seperately and then said it was now small enough to carry inside. ??? :) This country...! I joined Sam back in the queue and we eventually entered the place. We trooped up the stairs, watched very carefully by the guards, who indeed actually searched Sam's bag for hidden cameras (she looks more suspicious every day) and then entered the inner sanctum of Ho. We filed past Ho, who looked remarkably well, considering he'd been dead for 36 years, I thought he looked slightly pale and then we were back outside again, very, very weird. Quite cool to see him though, I imagine a bit like seeing Lenin, similer beards as well :)

That was this morning anyway, yesterday we had a look round the Military museum. All these places cost about 15p to get into and unlike normal museums or 1000 year old temples, you can pretty much wander where you want and touch what you want. Which when it comes to ancient artifacts isn't ideal, however when it comes to tanks and helicopters is quite cool :) The military museum was basically making it very clear how great the Vietnamese army was and who could argue with that, having spanked the French in the 50's and then the Yanks in the 60's! I got up to have a look at this Hue and was amazed to see a chain machine gun with magazine still attached on the inside. Bizarre!

We also went to the Ho Chi Minh museum, which basically charts Ho's life through the medium of commie symbology. This not only involved the usual workers holding aloft sickles against red backgrounds, but also giant fruit on giant tables? This photo's for you Em, courtesy of Sam, Uncle Ho and the words 'big' and 'little' :) Finally, today, we went to have a gander at the Hanoi Hilton. For those of you who don't know this was a prison built originally by the French, but became well known during the Vietnam war, when American P.O.W's were locked up here. It was a pretty spooky place with lots of evil looking cells and an original guillatine and yes it had been used alot by those Frenchies! Interesting place.
Well, that's what we've been up to. On the night train to Sapa tomorrow. Mmmmm, fresh mountain air :) Nice food here genrally, very, very cheap. Last night we ate out for 1 pound! Today we had lunch for 3 pound, but beer is quite expensive at around 30p for a bottle of Tiger. Will put together some slide shows when I get to a decent computer, this one is driving me nuts! By the way, it's all broadband here so far, which I was pleasantly surprised to discover, that doesn't stop this particular pc being annoyingly slow though, blah, blah...
Will blog soon from the hills :)

Goodbye Kitty

We are now about to leave Japan! I can't believe it's time to go. We have just had our last bowl of ramen and I've bought my last piece of Hello Kitty merchandise...what if I never see Totoro again? Well, we spent a couple of days in Nikko (as recommended by Claire Cox) before returning to Tokyo. Nikko was lovely - nice to get out of the city and into the mountains. It was very peaceful and we stayed in a great establishment... even if we did have to be home by 10pm! We virtually had the place to ourselves - a great advantage when chilling out in the Japanese bath. With its National Park setting, it felt a bit Twin Peaks...except it was devoid of dancing gnomes and everyone spoke forwards (at least I think they did). It is classed as the second most important religious site after Kyoto.

The most elaborate structures were found within the Toshogu shrine. This is the mausoleum of Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun. This feller founded the Tokugawa shogunate and restored peace to Japan for the first time in about 200 years. I believe he had his wife and eldest son killed in the process, but Andy said that this was for the greater good of the country (better watch my step). Built by Ieyesu's grandson, it stands as an opulent final resting place. You enter the temple through a huge stone torii and wind your way through the grounds, encountering a five-storied pagoda and other buildings all very elaborately decorated. It appears to have been heavily influenced by Chinese art, and the detail is outstanding and quite different to the Japanese love of minimalism.

Whilst there was snow on the ground, there was not a cloud in the sky and the warm, sunny weather was a welcome relief. After walking up 201 steps, you reach the mausoleum complex and pass through a wooden cat which everyone was getting very excited about. Something to do with warding off evil...And then, the bit Andy was thrilled about was the See No Evil monkey trio. Rinnoji temple is another very important shrine. Founded by Shodo Shonin in the 8th century, he introduced Buddhism to Nikko. It is home to three pretty impressive gold-laquered statues of Buddhist deities (no photos allowed though).

Then we had a bit of a meander around the town and came across this place (the name evades me) which was a shrine to the souls of lost children. We are generally walking for about 10 hours a day, so to be able to go and have a boiling hot bath was fantastic. It didn't really matter that our curfew was 10pm, as the nightlife of Nikko is non-existent. Being the troopers we are however, we did manage to seek out a great little restaurant and have a couple of well-deserved beers and some tasty noodles.

We would like to thank the following people, who have all made our Japanese experience one to remember.

Firstly, to Alex & Eremi for putting us up for two weeks in Hiroshima and showing us the sights...we had a great time with you both, and the memory of the karaoke will be a lasting one.

Secondly to Yuko Tanaka, our Japanese language teacher. Although we only spent a couple of hours with you doing "Survival Japanese," we found it so useful. Your worksheets have been used constantly! Thanks also for the sake - an essential part of making our freezing cold stay in Kyoto more bearable.


And thanks to Ant, for taking time out of his busy
job as New Dad and meeting us in Shinjuku for our last night. We really enjoyed the rich cultural experience of the English pub (good chips though!). Good luck to him and Yuka with little Angela!

And lastly, a big thanks to everybody who has made us ramen in the last month (especially the grumpy man in Hiroshima for his never-to-be-beaten chilli ramen). A word to the wise - if you are ever asked what chilli-rating you want on a scale of 1-30, don't go for 10...this actually pertains to the number of spoonfuls of chilli oil about to be added to your soup...it even surpassed my abilities. And whatever you do, don't even do near natto. It resembles baked beans with a covering of spider web and it stinks. I believe it's fermented soya beans, but it really should be a banned substance. That aside, everything else about Japan rocks. I'm sobbing into my hankie as I realise we are leaving this great country today.

Naked Day!

Thursday...Moved house
Friday.........Saw castle
Saturday.....Bathed with naked Japanese men

Other than that, fairly routine 3 days in and around Kyoto.
Thursday then. We left the cold darkness that was Gojo guest house and moved across town to the sunnier climate of Costa del Sol Kyoto. Nice clean room and the best futon yet! After dumping our stuff off, we went for a look at Kyoto tower and Kyoto train station (pictured here). Obviously we'd passed through the station at various times, but not had a proper look at it. It seems weird to go see a station, but it's an amazing looking building. It's like a futuristic cathedral and you can take the escalator up to the 11th floor to get a good look at the building and a nice view of Kyoto to. The station is full of windows with mirrored glass making it look more massive than it already is and giving you lots of photo opportunities. In the picture you can see Kyoto tower reflected in the windows. We went up the tower which is 130m high, something like that and to my great delight my vertigo seems to be going! I think it's cause we've been going up lots of high buildings, Sydney bridge C'mon! The tower was ok, nice views of Kyoto and all that, which reminds me. It's amazing how many jobs there are in Japan. I'm sure there must be unemployed people, because you can't believe how many people they can get to do a simple job. When we went up the skyscraper in Tokyo there were at least 5 people just to show us the way to the lift! In Kyoto tower, there was a girl operating the lift for you! Is that the most boring job in the world??

Friday: Day trip to see Himeji-jo, Japan's most impressive castle by all accounts. And it was. Awesome. It's really hard finding new words to describe how spectacular things are in Japan, so please forgive my illiterate brain (can't spell either). Himeji castle was built in 1580 and was captured by our old friend Ieyasu Tokugawa 30 years later.
You arrive at Himeji and as soon as you come out of the station you can see the castle down the road. It takes about 10 minutes to walk down the road, walk over the bridge over the moat and then you're there. It's called the 'White Egret', I'm guessing cause it's white... And indeed from a distance it does indeed look like a, er, massive, white castle.. Anyway it was easily the most splendid (new word) castle these eyes have ever gazed upon! Also it's intact, it escaped bombing in ww2 and also to escape wras generally over the last 400 years makes it a pretty rare find. When you get up close to the keep it's size is unbelievable to and you can wonder all through the building, right up to the 6th floor at the top and gaze out on Himeji city. If you look closely you can see Sam at the foot of the Keep, giving you a bit of scale! Lots of Lone wolf goings on again as you would expect in such a place. What I was especially interested to see was the suicide area. Brought back images from Samurai Executioner as well. There was a wooden platform where the person performing suicide would sit. Other samurai would sit along side to watch as well and also the Second who would cut the head off the chap once he had made the belly cut, so as to end the suffering quickly. There was a well nearby too, so that water could be drawn firstly to wash the sword, so purifying it and secondly to wash the head after it had been cut off. Lovely stuff! All in all a brilliant day out, although the 20 quid each train fare was slightly more than we wanted to pay. We spent the evening at the Irish bar in Gion, Kyoto enjoying, er, beer and fish and chips :) After almost a month of admittedly gorgeous Japanese food, we both just needed some English food. Also the owner, Michael, told us of a Japanese bath he recommended we try on our last day in Kyoto.

Saturday: Our last full day in Kyoto, we went and saw a couple of temples as you do. One was boring (Nanzen-ji) and the other, the Silver Pavilion was very nice. Well it had a nice garden anyway, very Zen :) No silver on the pavilion though, odd. After the temples we headed off to the Japanese bath. The baths we went to were in Kurama, which is just a little north of Kyoto. Took us about 1/2 hour or so on the train. They have hot springs which are outside, so you get a bit of a view of the surrounding trees, mountains and the valley you are in. I should say at this point that the baths are sex segregated and that there are no naked photos, good or bad I'll leave that to your judgment :)

So we paid our 1100 Yen (5 pound) and in we went. I was a bit nervous obviously, it's not every day you get naked with a bunch of fellas and theres the bath etiquette to observe. You go in, get undressed, keep your towel round you, and go and go for a shower first. You have to sit on what is basically a potty in a line and soap yourself down (calm yourselves ladies). I wasn't really sure how thoroughly to wash and so kept an eye on the bloke next to me, who seemed to be soaping himself down like he hadn't washed for a year. I carried on until another fella sat down and had washed in about 1/2 a minute. I washed the soap off and went round the corner to the bath. It had about 8-10 people in it and a couple of kids. I found a corner and slipped myself in to a lovely hot bath. Then you just sit there, lie there, whatever you want, relax and watch the scenery, very nice indeed. We spent about an hour in the bath and then emerged very relaxed indeed, in fact we both fell asleep on the train coming back.
That was the last few days then and we're heading off to Nikko today on the shinkansen for a couple of nights. We are staying at somewhere called the Koryu Sokushin Center, which looks nice and we think has beds....mmmm, which will make a change from futon.
Tuesday we will be heading back to Tokyo for our last 2 nights and then we fly to Vietnam on the 16th! Sun, sun sun :)

Nara

Yesterday we spent exploring the delights of Nara...I can' wait for a lie-in - we haven't had one yet! Nara was the first real capital of Japan, although this doesn't mean much, as everywhere seems to have been the capital at some point. In fact, in keeping with Shinto beliefs, the capital had to be moved as each emperor passed - what a kerfuffle! Thankfully, this business died out in the 7th centuary, when it became law for the whole country to come under imperial law. Anyway, Nara is home to eight Unesco heritage sights and during its brief period as capital, it adopted many cultural influences from China. As a result, Japan accepted Buddhism as its national religion, and this in turn had a lasting impression upon the arts and Japanese archtecture and literature.

The streets of Nara (as many other Japanese towns seem to) are set out in accordance with the Chinese grid-pattern, and the main touristic feature is Todai-Ji. This temple accommoates a massive bronze Buddha. Buddha lives in Daibutsu-den hall, which you approach once entering a huge gateway - Nandai-mon - and is guarded by two scary-looking wooden carved statues (Nio guardians). As seems to ffrequently be the scenario, Diabutsu-den (literally, "Great Buddha" ) Hall does not stand in its original form...this one is only two-thirds the size of the first. The present structure was rebuilt in 1709. The Diabutsu, first cast in 746, is one of the largest bronze figures in the world. This version stands a mere 16m high and is constructed of 437 tonnes of bronze and 130kg of gold. The original had been battered several times over the years by earthquakes and fires and his head often fell off due to these natural disasters.

It is believed that the temple was constucted to ward off smallpox - a huge problem in Japan in years preceding this building. Within the temple stands a pillar which has a hole carved into it. This hole is exactly the same size as one of the Buddhas nostrils (bear with me). If you can squeeze yourself though the hole, you are said to be sure of enlightenment. This was not a feat I felt ready to take on...especially since the Japanses appeared to be having difficulty. Anyway, I managed to persuade Andy and his snake hips to have a go...which he did, but I think he got scared and a bit claustrophobic. I don' t know, he doesn't ever seem to complete these missions...

Anyway, it was all very awe-inspiring, and the great Buddha was flanked by two golden Bodhivistas (I think that's right) and we took lots of photos. Another great thing about Japan is that you are virtually allowed to take photos of everything, no matter how ancient or holy. It then became far too cold to see anything else... there are loads of temples in Nara, so we headed for the National museum to see lots of Buddhist art and sculptures. Did I mention how nice the coffee here is? As a result I have converted from a herbal tea-drinker into a major caffeine addict (again).

Can i add in at this point (Andy speaking), that Todai-ji, is the worlds biggest wooden building! And it felt like it too, standing in front of it was a truely impressive sight. Nara was a really nice, chilled out, small Japanese town, loads of deer everywhere and tons of temples.
P.S We are now staying at... the Costa del Sol, Kyoto :) and very nice it is to!

Kyoto and Osaka

Monday was a funny day, saw some nice culture as usual, but it was absolutely freezing! Was a bit of a weird day all in all. We'd decided to try and start saving some cash on the Sunday, as we'd been rattling through it a bit and had settled on spending only 30 quid a day. It's managable, but as the Sunday and then the Monday grew colder, so I became more miserable. It's hard being cold all the time and being skint, so we chucked our saving money idea out the window and have now resumed spending what we want, which to be honest isn't that much, but if we're going to try and save money we might as well be in a hot country where you don't have to spend money just to get out of the cold!
Apart from the cold weather, which has now got milder :) we went to see Nijo-jo. So, a jo is a castle, or in this case a palace. Lone Wolf fans listen up! Nijo-jo was built in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was the first warlord to unite all of Japan and took the title of Shogun. The Tokugawa clan ruled Japan from 1600 till 1860 something. The inside of the palace has a very cool feature. 'Nightingale' floor boards. The floorboards are constructed in such a way so that when you walk on them they creak, but they creak in a kind of sweet sounding way, hence the name. It was pretty impressive stuff, I tried sneaking around like a ninja, but it's impossible :) A couple of the main rooms in the palace had some dummies dressed as the shogun meeting his daimyo (feudal lords) and it really brought the comics alive! Also, you could see the hollyhock crescent all over the place; you could imagine Retsudo Yagyu walking round the corner at any moment!
Monday evening was spent in the warm, delighting in the glory that is Shabu~shabu. This is basically do-it-yourself cooking. You get a big pot of hot broth put in front of you and a plate of raw veg and meat. You then cook said veg / meat in the broth and then wang it in the accompanying dips. Very nice!
Tuesday we decided to get out of Kyoto and so headed for Osaka. Osaka is Japans second biggest city and on the brief glimpse we had of it, a dump! Well, alot of it looked like a building site. Some nice buildings here and there, particularly one called the Umeda Sky building. You can see why its called the sky building in the photo here what I took. Its an absolutely mental building to look at, what you can't really see here is that it looks like a futuristic Arc De Triomphe. We went up to the 39th floor for a nice view of Osakas many building sites; I think my vertigo is gradually improving :)

Anyway, the reason for going to Osaka was to visit the aquarium! We love our fish and in Osaka they have the worlds biggest fish in the worlds biggest fish tank! Rhincodon typus, is as I'm sure I don't need to tell you all, a Whale shark. These fellas can grow up to 40ft long, this particular one was about 15ft at a guess, a tiddler really, but it was nice to see for the first time a creature I've wanted to see for a long time now. Really, really hope we bump into a monster one while we are doing some scuba! Don't worry Parents out there, they only eat plankton :) Osaka aquarium was amazing! What they've done is basically got as many fish, dolphins, otters, seals, turtles and ... monkeys?? and stuffed them into really, really massive tanks. Apart from a proper whale, theres not alot they haven't got here and the tanks are so big that you don't worry about the conditions these creatures are living in. Well worth visiting Osaka for! It's definately time for an aquarium slide show, so enjoy, and why not have a nice fish supper tonight...mmmmmmmmm...fissssssshhhhhh :)

Kyoto...

Good morning from freezing but lovely Kyoto!　We have been here for a few days already, trying to keep warm, getting lost, exploring temples etc. so too busy to blog. It's our neice's 1st　Birthday today - so Happy Birthday Ruby! We expect a picture of you wearing your outfit and clutching your lovely Totoro soon! Andy may go on about Robots and dolls wearing rude clothes, but Totoro is by far the best thing about Japan. He's this massive rabbit/bear creature which has magical powers who comes to your aid when you most need it. He travels by cat bus and lives in the forest with other, smaller versions of himself and he's very comfortable to sleep on. No, I haven't been on the sake, other people have seen him too, so I know he's real.

Anyway, we are staying very near Gion - a district which all you geisha fans will have heard of. Although there are only about 1000 geisha remaining throughout the whole of Japan, we have still managed to spot about three or four. You see several others who are just dressed up for the day - quite a few shops offer this service, along with full make-up and wig (for about 60 quid, Bison), but the difference is quite startling. For those who are unenlightened, geisha literally means artist (they are definitely not prostitutes). The geisha world has long been shrouded in mystery, and this reamins today. They only come out at dusk, where you will see them being escorted to their appointments by their maiko (apprentice geisha, or "little sister").

Appointments are usually at the teahouses frequented by men of considerable means, where it is the role of the geisha to provide witty conversation, complements and pour drinks for their clients. There will usually be a spot of music - most geisha play the shamisen, a three-stringed instrument, and dancing - usually a traditional fan dance. It will cost around $3,000 to spend the evening with geisha and so is only really the passtime of successful Japanese business men - a Westerner would not be allowed into a teahouse.

It takes several years training to become a fully-fledged geisha. In years gone by, daughters of poor families were often sold to ochiya (giesha houses), with the expectation that they repay their up-keep and kimono once they started earning big money. I doubt this is the case today - more that young women choose this dying art-form as a way of life. The best way of ensuring long-term success and a good income, is to find the best possible danna, or patron. This does come at a price, however. For the most successful and elligible maiko, there is often some sort bidding for their mizuage (virginity). This is often a very substantial sum of money (I don't know Bison) and secures the future of the geisha and her ochiya. 　

Anyway, they wouldn't give me a job, so it's back to nursing in 2007. They are pretty much the same job anyway. Similarities I have observed:

You go to work when everyone else is out enjoying themselves
You spend your time at work in the company of men of considerable means (James, Mike, Cameron, Elliott, Stuart)
You have to shower them with complements and pour them drinks to get anywhere (that'll be the doctors)
It takes several years of training
You have a danna (Andy)
The earnings are similar
The outfit is almost as exquisite

So, on with our adventure. Kiyomizu-dera was where we spent our first day.　　This is a massive temple, originally built in 798 (but reconstructed in 1633) is affiliated to the Hosso school of Buddhism and is one of the most famous landmarks of the city. Aside from the main hall which is set in the hillside, there are many other smaller shrines. Below the main hall is a waterfall - Otawa-no-taki - believed to have healing properties if the sacred water is drunk. Another shrine can ensure you success in love. All you have to do is walk the distance between two stones with your eyes closed (about 18m)...but Andy failed miserably after about 5m. Lets hope that prophecy will not be fulfilled, else it will be a lonely year ahead...

We then had a meander through Maruyama park, whose spring-time centrepiece was looking bit folorn in the cold winter light. Everything looks quite nearby on out map, but it's actually a massive city and so by the time we reached Chion-in, it was closed. Undeterred, we visited this temple again yesterday. Built in 1234, you are welcomed through the largest temple gate in Japan. A famous priest named Honen founded the Jodo school of Buddhism here. He fasted to death but today it remains the headquarters of the school. There were a few priests milling about and lots of visitors praying. It's nice to visit some original buildings - obviously everything in Hiroshima was rebuilt after 1945, and many famous buildings and temples have been burnt down and rebuilt, but Kyoto was largely intact after the war.


Please enjoy our slideshow from Kyoto!

Okonomiyaki

Last night in Hiroshima! We went for "Okonomiyaki". Bit drunk, anyway bear with me....
So we climb 4 floors up a scraper off the main drag in　Hiroshima...City of Okonomiyaki apparently. Any intrepid cooks out there get ready for omelette stylie japanese cabbage and bacon thing.
1. Splat down your batter mix in a frying pan...omlette stylie!
2.Sprinkle some pepper and fish flakes on top.
( I guess you can do with out the fish flakes)
3. Chuck a shed load of cabbage on top and then some more :)
4. Add about 5 strips streaky bacon + a handful of spring onions + bean sprouts + crushed squid tempura (Sam said to add that bit in for authenticity but you won't be able to get it so........)
5. Then turn the whole beast over so that the cabbage is on the bottom.
6.Cook for 5 minutes or so.
7. In the meantime shove a load of noodles (fry when soft) in a seperate pan ( unless you're lucky enough to have a tepenyaki table) and cook for the same amount of time.
8. Once everything has been cooking for 5 mintues flip the cabbage beast onto the noodles so that the batter mix remains on top.
9. Make an omlette with one egg in a pan and put it top of your cabbage mess ( batter mix one end and egg the other end) .
10. Add some Okonomiyaki sauce ( try Worcestershire sauce ) on top
11. A shed load more spring onions and.............
12.EAT......
13. Seems weird, but maybe put some Mayonaise on it.... .really... they do here...

Tastes very good!!!!

Well, they're all eating it anyway. Seriously it's very nice, I'd be interested to hear from anyone who was able to make it :)


The morning after.......
My head hurts now :(
We're packed up and about to go to the station and catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto. Massive, massive thanks to Alex and Eremi for looking after us so well, we've loved it in Hiroshima, but now must go, running late :)

3rd　Update：

Just got to Kyoto, we are staying in Gojo Guest house. Seems nice so far, friendly English speaking staff, annoying computer to use though, keeps flipping into Japanese as　意m　writing, see what i mean....
Anyway, thanks for our stay Alex and Eremi,　it was wicked to see you guys. Sorry Spencer, didnt make it to the waste disposal facility, far to hung over this morning :) Will blog soon, once we have something to say about Kyoto!!