Sin Chow from Hanoi! Me oh my, I have been very neglectful of this blog. I'll try and summerise the last month in as succinct and enjoyable way as possible, but please feel free to stop reading when overloaded with waffle.
After 3 weeks of travelling on my lonesome (although never actually being alone), I finally had a Bethan to keep me company! We started off our Cambodian adventures in Siem Reap, home of the Angkor temples. Exploring on bike and from the back of a tuk tuk, we were awe-inspired, astounded, amazed, and other adjectives beginning with "ahh". Siem Reap is also home to a bar with a half pipe on the roof, which is not quite as spectacular, but pretty exciting as bars go. After a week of temple going and floating village visiting, and a bit of frog eating and 50 cent beer drinking on the side, we headed on to Phnom Pehn.
We instantly disliked Phnom Pehn - Cambodia is hot as hell, but it seemed just about manageable in Siem Reap, which is quite chilled out and slow paced. Phnom Pehn is not. In addition to the 40 degree heat, its noise and proliferation of people on motorbikes who can't ride motorbikes made it completely overwhelming. Perhaps in reaction to our new situation, both mine and Bethan's guts declared mutiny and we spent the next three days holed up in a hotel room, being very very ill. So we actually barely saw Phnom Pehn. Dosed up on antibiotics, we escaped the city and headed to Sihnoukville on the coast of Cambodia. Here, we stayed in a bamboo shack mere metres from the waters edge and did absolutely nothing at all, apart from swinging in hammocks and playing with puppies. Our short break by the sea calmed us down and, with new found tolerance, we headed back to Phnom Pehn.
Our second go at the city was a mixed affair. We warmed to it much better, mostly thanks to the man who ran our hostel and not vomiting on arrival. But Phnom Pehn is also the main place to see the evidence of the Khmer Rouge's genocidal regime. We visited Tuol Sleng prison, a school which became a torture and incarceration camp for over 17,000 victims, and The Killing Fields, an area of land just outside the city that was used as a mass grave. It's impossible to describe the feeling of terror and desperation that still hangs in the air, but it permeates everything and is still evident - not only in these places, which have been preserved as a monument to the suffering inflicted by a few warped individuals on a desperate populous, but across the whole of Cambodia. Reflecting back on our time there, we've been a bit unable to work out how we feel. We had a great time making merry in Siem Reap and hammock hunting in Sihanoukville, but at the moment, the thing that has really stuck in our heads is how sad the country was - their history is painfully tragic, and the country is still a long way from recovery. We had some idea of the level of poverty that we'd see, but when it came down to it, it was worse than we had imagined. Throughout history, Cambodia has been royally screwed over by everyone, but the Khmer Rouge's indiscriminate and unfathomable brutality on its own people seems like the ultimate betrayal. And the Khmer people are still being screwed over - by fake NGOs, real NGOs, sex tourists, normal tourists, and each other. The worst part was not really being able to see how big changes can be made - without huge foreign investments in education, healthcare, industry and agriculture. That's not to downplay the people who are out there now, really trying to help out, or the Khmer population themselves, who were so friendly, welcoming and happy despite all the awfulness. I'll step down from my ill-informed and mildly ignorant soapbox and just say that I would love to go back, but I don't think I could be a tourist there again. Thus, it was with some measure of guilty relief that we moved on to Vietnam.
We decided to travel by boat along the Mekong, which was a big relief after the sweaty buses we'd been carted across Cambodia in. The best bit of the journey was heading into the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, as the river was full of boats, buffalo, children, ducklings and, quite curiously, lots of turnips. A tasty soup indeed. Bridges, that can barely be called bridges, cross over the delta, and Vietnamese people very gallantly (or is it stupidly?) try and use them as major roadways. Our journey finished in a little port town called Chau Doc, which had some lovely mangoes. The next morning, we journeyed to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City (I'm still not sure of the difference - I'll refer to it as S/HCMC from now on, to keep everyone happy). Our bus was driven by one of the biggest douche bags I have encountered in on my travels. His partner in douche was the conductor of the bus, who was also a spectacular idiot. They treated Bethan and I as if we were completely backward - at one point, demonstrating very aggressively how to sit down on a coach seat. Apparently, it's the same as sitting on any normal seat. Man, what I wouldn't have given to boot him up the behind, but I don't think that would've gone down very well. First impressions of S/HCMC were, again, not all together positive. To describe it as hectic doesn't quite do it justice. But after we had been enticed into a guesthouse and set out to explore the city, we quickly decided otherwise. We were taught how to play 4 square (a playground game that every American kid knows - I guess like British bulldog, but without the violence) by some lovely Americans, ate pork fillet with spoons and sesame buns on street corners, and spent ages just watching the traffic, mouths agape.
Due to our tardiness in leaving Cambodia, we were running a bit behind on our very loose plans, so hopped on a bus the next day to Dalat, a town in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. This place has everything going for it. It's located in a beautiful valley, guarded by green hills and lush with every kind of fruit and vegetable that they feel like growing. Tiny, colourful houses are piled on top of each other amidst the hills, and the bakery had a beautiful banana cake. But absolutely best of all, it was actually cool. A UK March day temperature, but without the mizzle (that's misty drizzle for those who don't live at 145 Fort road!). In celebration, Bethan and I put on our jeans and strutted around, not sweating. I even got a few goose bumps! Dalat is also home to a group of Vietnamese motorcyclists called the Easy Riders. They and their Hondas take tourists across Vietnam for a not so small price, and in as many days as you can spare/afford. So as to keep this short, I'll not describe how we found ourselves departing on a three day tour, with our bags strapped to the back of their hogs and helmets squeezed over copious amounts of hair (in my case). But depart we did...and I'll leave it there for the moment, in a very Lost-esque cliffhanger. I promise it won't be another month before you get the final, thrilling installment!
x
Saturday 29 May 2010
Friday 7 May 2010
Farewell Borneo, I think I love you
Blog fans, Bea fans, unfortunate internet wanderers who have stumbled upon this by accident, I do apologise, but I am about to get poetic on your collective behinds. This place, this wonderful wonderful place, has stolen my heart and is holding it ransom. I think it's somewhere in an underground cave system. Or perhaps deep in the jungle, being manhandled by a harem of proboscis monkeys. Actually, it could be on the barbecue next to a massive red snapper. Wherever it may be, or whatever is being done to it, I don't really care - it's very happy where it is, tarima kasih (that's thank you in Malay).
I'll take my beret off and put my quill away now, and turn the poetry down a notch before I make you all sick. After my last post, I headed into the jungles of Sabah to the Kinabatangan nature camp to trek my face off. As Bethan and Charlotte will recall with horror, our last foray into jungle trekking did not go very well. However, this was a resort holiday in comparison. We had actual huts, beds, and electricity! A miracle. It was still quite basic, with added massive bugs, but very nice nonetheless. We did two boat trips down the Kinabatangan river, where we managed to spot proboscis monkeys (ridiculous looking animals), crocodiles, hornbills, lizards and many other things that I forget now, as I managed to take such awful photos that they all look like bits of tree or bits of blur. I did take a nice picture of the sky though.
Nice, eh? You don't see sky very often. We also did a trek into the jungle, which was fantastic - wrought with excitement, danger and a lot of sweat. It had been raining the night before (not uncommon in the rainforest [clue is in the title], or in Borneo for that matter. In almost all of Borneo, it rains on cue at around 4 every day. And not just a casual shower - a soaked to the skin, drench you and everything your have about your personage, bucket-down) so we had to be extra careful of leeches and big pools of water. I had 3 or 4 leeches crawl up my clothes in search of blood. Thankfully, my lightening quick reactions saved me from becoming a leech snack, but Carolina (also on my trek) had a couple of sneaky ones that crawled up her back and latched on. They're very clean and painless, but they're so creepy looking that it can be quite a shock. Kai, our toothless tour guide, very casually rolled them up into balls and flicked them back into the jungle while we frantically checked for more beasties. We didn't see too much in the way of wildlife, but Kai knew the jungle like the back of his hand so gave us lots of interesting tit bits about uses of plants and things. Which of course I have now forgotten. We did get urinated on by a silver leak monkey though! Cheeky bugger. Just moments before the business occurred, I had been gawping, open mouthed (of course), at the canopy above. The Batten-Harbour quick reactions saved me once again. Thanks mum and dad.
From Kota Kinabatangan, I headed back to Kota Kinabalu before heading off to Gunung Mulu national park. Mulu is in Sarawak, the other region of Malaysian Borneo, and is only reachable by plane or 4 boats. I, very un-greenly, opted for the plane. Flying in, the park is laid out below you and is absolutely beautiful - thick forest, unspoiled by palm tree plantations or deforestation, with huge limestone cliffs around its boundaries and juts of rock rising up from the trees. A highlight of the park is its caves. It has one of the worlds longest cave systems in the world (175 km i think) and also, until recently, the worlds largest cave mouth. This belongs to the Deer cave - the nature enthusiasts amongst you will have seen it in Planet Earth, as it is also home to 2 million bats and the largest pile of bat business (guano) in the world. I'm going to try and avoid getting poetical again, but standing in the Deer Cave was one of the greatest moments of my life. I'm not even going to apologise for that - it truly was. I've never felt so small, and so happy feeling so small. The sheer size and beauty of it was breath-taking. Outside the cave, you can sit on bleachers and watch the BAT EXODUS (I felt that deserved capitalisation!). Around 6 every day, the bats all leave the cave to feed, and lots of tourists can sit and watch them. They swirl out in big snake formations, a few thousand at a time. We lay there, eating snacks and watching synchronised bat ballet, and I felt very at peace with the world.
After my Mulu adventure, I came back to Kota Kinabalu and have been pottering around here in preparation for my BEA EXODUS to Cambodia to meet the lovely Stacey Facey, which I am very excited about. I have spent most of my time here eating. Quelle surprise! The night food market is lush - they have long rows of barbecues, where you can choose your fish/sea food of choice and they cook it up a treat and then you stuff it in your gob, covered in chilli and lime. Very messy and very tasty. Also a lot of sweet nut pancakes and fresh mango. Om nom nom.
Before I go, here are some photos! Really bad ones.
Me with a robot from Laputa at Studio Ghibli musueum in Tokyo (way back!)
People crossing the road with umbrellas in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Sunset on the bay at Kota Kinabalu.
A Jaws moment on the Kinabatangan river.
Who knows what this is?! One of my terrible, terrible nature shots.
Entrance of the Deer Cave from the Bat bleachers, Mulu.
Some stalactites (I had to wiki that one) in the Clearwater cave, Mulu.
Peace from Kota Kinabalu!
Lots of love, and I'll have some better photos soon!
Beazie xxxxx
CORRECTION - this stupid computer won't let me upload the pictures! I'll do it soon. Just imagine in the mean time. But don't imagine them good - they're not.
I'll take my beret off and put my quill away now, and turn the poetry down a notch before I make you all sick. After my last post, I headed into the jungles of Sabah to the Kinabatangan nature camp to trek my face off. As Bethan and Charlotte will recall with horror, our last foray into jungle trekking did not go very well. However, this was a resort holiday in comparison. We had actual huts, beds, and electricity! A miracle. It was still quite basic, with added massive bugs, but very nice nonetheless. We did two boat trips down the Kinabatangan river, where we managed to spot proboscis monkeys (ridiculous looking animals), crocodiles, hornbills, lizards and many other things that I forget now, as I managed to take such awful photos that they all look like bits of tree or bits of blur. I did take a nice picture of the sky though.
Nice, eh? You don't see sky very often. We also did a trek into the jungle, which was fantastic - wrought with excitement, danger and a lot of sweat. It had been raining the night before (not uncommon in the rainforest [clue is in the title], or in Borneo for that matter. In almost all of Borneo, it rains on cue at around 4 every day. And not just a casual shower - a soaked to the skin, drench you and everything your have about your personage, bucket-down) so we had to be extra careful of leeches and big pools of water. I had 3 or 4 leeches crawl up my clothes in search of blood. Thankfully, my lightening quick reactions saved me from becoming a leech snack, but Carolina (also on my trek) had a couple of sneaky ones that crawled up her back and latched on. They're very clean and painless, but they're so creepy looking that it can be quite a shock. Kai, our toothless tour guide, very casually rolled them up into balls and flicked them back into the jungle while we frantically checked for more beasties. We didn't see too much in the way of wildlife, but Kai knew the jungle like the back of his hand so gave us lots of interesting tit bits about uses of plants and things. Which of course I have now forgotten. We did get urinated on by a silver leak monkey though! Cheeky bugger. Just moments before the business occurred, I had been gawping, open mouthed (of course), at the canopy above. The Batten-Harbour quick reactions saved me once again. Thanks mum and dad.
From Kota Kinabatangan, I headed back to Kota Kinabalu before heading off to Gunung Mulu national park. Mulu is in Sarawak, the other region of Malaysian Borneo, and is only reachable by plane or 4 boats. I, very un-greenly, opted for the plane. Flying in, the park is laid out below you and is absolutely beautiful - thick forest, unspoiled by palm tree plantations or deforestation, with huge limestone cliffs around its boundaries and juts of rock rising up from the trees. A highlight of the park is its caves. It has one of the worlds longest cave systems in the world (175 km i think) and also, until recently, the worlds largest cave mouth. This belongs to the Deer cave - the nature enthusiasts amongst you will have seen it in Planet Earth, as it is also home to 2 million bats and the largest pile of bat business (guano) in the world. I'm going to try and avoid getting poetical again, but standing in the Deer Cave was one of the greatest moments of my life. I'm not even going to apologise for that - it truly was. I've never felt so small, and so happy feeling so small. The sheer size and beauty of it was breath-taking. Outside the cave, you can sit on bleachers and watch the BAT EXODUS (I felt that deserved capitalisation!). Around 6 every day, the bats all leave the cave to feed, and lots of tourists can sit and watch them. They swirl out in big snake formations, a few thousand at a time. We lay there, eating snacks and watching synchronised bat ballet, and I felt very at peace with the world.
After my Mulu adventure, I came back to Kota Kinabalu and have been pottering around here in preparation for my BEA EXODUS to Cambodia to meet the lovely Stacey Facey, which I am very excited about. I have spent most of my time here eating. Quelle surprise! The night food market is lush - they have long rows of barbecues, where you can choose your fish/sea food of choice and they cook it up a treat and then you stuff it in your gob, covered in chilli and lime. Very messy and very tasty. Also a lot of sweet nut pancakes and fresh mango. Om nom nom.
Before I go, here are some photos! Really bad ones.
Me with a robot from Laputa at Studio Ghibli musueum in Tokyo (way back!)
People crossing the road with umbrellas in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Sunset on the bay at Kota Kinabalu.
A Jaws moment on the Kinabatangan river.
Who knows what this is?! One of my terrible, terrible nature shots.
Entrance of the Deer Cave from the Bat bleachers, Mulu.
Some stalactites (I had to wiki that one) in the Clearwater cave, Mulu.
Peace from Kota Kinabalu!
Lots of love, and I'll have some better photos soon!
Beazie xxxxx
CORRECTION - this stupid computer won't let me upload the pictures! I'll do it soon. Just imagine in the mean time. But don't imagine them good - they're not.
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Kyoto! and Borneo!
Hello from Kota Kinabalu, Borneo! According to wiki languages, hello in Malay is "Hello". 1) how boring and 2) how useful! and 3) how awful that I had to look that up, even though I've been in the country for 4 days.
I should let you know from the get go that this blog update will be photo free, because I forgot to bring my photo uploader jobby. But I will be painting pictures with my words, so I hope that is sufficient.
I've now been a solo traveller for 16 days. The mathematicians amongst you will know that's more than 2 weeks. 2 WEEKS! My initial separation from the Hyndman youngers was rubbish. I'd had the most amazing time with them, and as I trundled (can you trundle on a 300mph bullet train?!) from Tokyo to Kyoto, I was feeling quite lost and lonesome. The appearance of Mount Fuji, sitting on the horizon like an iced bun, pushed me to the very verge of tears - it didn't seem quite right to see such a sight by myself. I had to quickly watch Battlestar Galactica to stop myself from blubbing on the Japanese businessman next to me.
Luckily, everything about Kyoto was hella awesome so, while there was still a Hyndman shaped hole in my ongoing travels, I could at least preoccupy myself with exploring this beautiful city and its history, drinking sake and doing origami with some wonderful people, and watching sea otters frolicking in aquariums (that last bit was technically Osaka, if you're going to be picky). Some of the highlights of the rest of my time in Japan were going to Gion, a district in Kyoto where you can still find real life Geishas, and seeing a Geisha show. Man, those women (if you can even class them in the same bracket as us mere mortals) are stunning - perfectly poised and graceful beyond belief. Further proof that Japan is not the country to go to for an ego boost. I also managed to miss my train to Hiroshima, but had a fantastic day as a result, hiking through the hills behind Kyoto and finding postcard-perfect scenes of waterfalls, sun-dappled forest floors and views over the city. Beautiful.
After 5 days in Kyoto, I headed back to Tokyo and flew to Bangkok. Getting off the plane and heading in to the city was quite a shock after Japan. Stuck in a super hot bus, with families whizzing past on mopeds, car horns ringing in my ears and the smell of open sewers singeing my nostrils, I philosophically pondered on the differences between two cultures which, at their core, have many similarities. But then I arrived at my hostel, saw that there was a food market at the end of my road selling mango and sticky rice, and pondered no more. It was really nice to be back in Bangkok, albeit briefly as I then flew out the next day to Malaysian Borneo.
After a couple of flights and lot of waiting around, I found myself in a pick up truck, being whizzed from Tawau (a port town on the border with Indonesian and Malaysian Borneo) through palm oil plantations to Semporna, a seaside town which is...on the sea. There is not much to be said of Semporna - it is a bit of a dive, from which you can dive. I should write their brochure! I stayed for one night there and, craving a bit of white sandy beach and crystal clear water, as tourists are want to do, I headed over to stay on an island called Mabul. It was verging on the resort-y, but that is the only negative I can say about it. The snorkelling was incredible - I followed a turtle around for ages as it grazed on sea grass, transfixed by its slightly clumsy swimming and barnacle covered face. It probably thought I was an absolute moron, as he was just eating his lunch. My turtle stalking did result in me having the worst sunburn in all my 24 years - I'd like to say it was worth it but it still hurts three days on. I also had the chance to do some diving with an amazing instructor. He asked what I'd like to see and, as it was just me and him, he gave me a guided tour of the ocean floor. We saw more turtles, squid, lionfish, sea horses, moray eels and a whole selection of sealife that I have no grouping for, but enthusiastically gave the "tip top" hand signal when he pointed it out to me. It was one of the greatest moments of my trip yet, nay, my LIFE! Let's not get over-excited. It was great though! Money and time allowing, I would've spent a lot longer there. But unfortunately, running a bit low on both of those, I found myself on an 8 hour night bus to Kota Kinabalu. Horrific. The driver, taking advantage of no one on the roads, drove like someone had put a firework up his posterior. Which is no mean feat, seeing as we were on winding mountain roads. He only stopped twice - once for snacks and once when someone threw a rock at the bus and cracked the windscreen. He got out of the bus, chased after the person, then came back and carried on regardless. I get the impression, based on his reaction and the state of some of the buses at the depot, that it was quite a regular occurrence.
So that pretty much takes me up to present day! I'm going on a 3 day jungle trek tomorrow, to try and find some orangutans and tiny elephants, and get chewed on by leeches, and then heading on to some enormous caves in the middle of nowhere that have bat displays! All very exciting and very nature-y.
I hope you are all well - send me your news and send me some money.
Lots of love xxxxx
p.s. I'll post some pictures soon!
I should let you know from the get go that this blog update will be photo free, because I forgot to bring my photo uploader jobby. But I will be painting pictures with my words, so I hope that is sufficient.
I've now been a solo traveller for 16 days. The mathematicians amongst you will know that's more than 2 weeks. 2 WEEKS! My initial separation from the Hyndman youngers was rubbish. I'd had the most amazing time with them, and as I trundled (can you trundle on a 300mph bullet train?!) from Tokyo to Kyoto, I was feeling quite lost and lonesome. The appearance of Mount Fuji, sitting on the horizon like an iced bun, pushed me to the very verge of tears - it didn't seem quite right to see such a sight by myself. I had to quickly watch Battlestar Galactica to stop myself from blubbing on the Japanese businessman next to me.
Luckily, everything about Kyoto was hella awesome so, while there was still a Hyndman shaped hole in my ongoing travels, I could at least preoccupy myself with exploring this beautiful city and its history, drinking sake and doing origami with some wonderful people, and watching sea otters frolicking in aquariums (that last bit was technically Osaka, if you're going to be picky). Some of the highlights of the rest of my time in Japan were going to Gion, a district in Kyoto where you can still find real life Geishas, and seeing a Geisha show. Man, those women (if you can even class them in the same bracket as us mere mortals) are stunning - perfectly poised and graceful beyond belief. Further proof that Japan is not the country to go to for an ego boost. I also managed to miss my train to Hiroshima, but had a fantastic day as a result, hiking through the hills behind Kyoto and finding postcard-perfect scenes of waterfalls, sun-dappled forest floors and views over the city. Beautiful.
After 5 days in Kyoto, I headed back to Tokyo and flew to Bangkok. Getting off the plane and heading in to the city was quite a shock after Japan. Stuck in a super hot bus, with families whizzing past on mopeds, car horns ringing in my ears and the smell of open sewers singeing my nostrils, I philosophically pondered on the differences between two cultures which, at their core, have many similarities. But then I arrived at my hostel, saw that there was a food market at the end of my road selling mango and sticky rice, and pondered no more. It was really nice to be back in Bangkok, albeit briefly as I then flew out the next day to Malaysian Borneo.
After a couple of flights and lot of waiting around, I found myself in a pick up truck, being whizzed from Tawau (a port town on the border with Indonesian and Malaysian Borneo) through palm oil plantations to Semporna, a seaside town which is...on the sea. There is not much to be said of Semporna - it is a bit of a dive, from which you can dive. I should write their brochure! I stayed for one night there and, craving a bit of white sandy beach and crystal clear water, as tourists are want to do, I headed over to stay on an island called Mabul. It was verging on the resort-y, but that is the only negative I can say about it. The snorkelling was incredible - I followed a turtle around for ages as it grazed on sea grass, transfixed by its slightly clumsy swimming and barnacle covered face. It probably thought I was an absolute moron, as he was just eating his lunch. My turtle stalking did result in me having the worst sunburn in all my 24 years - I'd like to say it was worth it but it still hurts three days on. I also had the chance to do some diving with an amazing instructor. He asked what I'd like to see and, as it was just me and him, he gave me a guided tour of the ocean floor. We saw more turtles, squid, lionfish, sea horses, moray eels and a whole selection of sealife that I have no grouping for, but enthusiastically gave the "tip top" hand signal when he pointed it out to me. It was one of the greatest moments of my trip yet, nay, my LIFE! Let's not get over-excited. It was great though! Money and time allowing, I would've spent a lot longer there. But unfortunately, running a bit low on both of those, I found myself on an 8 hour night bus to Kota Kinabalu. Horrific. The driver, taking advantage of no one on the roads, drove like someone had put a firework up his posterior. Which is no mean feat, seeing as we were on winding mountain roads. He only stopped twice - once for snacks and once when someone threw a rock at the bus and cracked the windscreen. He got out of the bus, chased after the person, then came back and carried on regardless. I get the impression, based on his reaction and the state of some of the buses at the depot, that it was quite a regular occurrence.
So that pretty much takes me up to present day! I'm going on a 3 day jungle trek tomorrow, to try and find some orangutans and tiny elephants, and get chewed on by leeches, and then heading on to some enormous caves in the middle of nowhere that have bat displays! All very exciting and very nature-y.
I hope you are all well - send me your news and send me some money.
Lots of love xxxxx
p.s. I'll post some pictures soon!
Monday 12 April 2010
Hakuba, part the second, and Tokyo
Konichiwa friends-san! Sorry for not updating this more regularly, but hostel internet and loads of travelling/awesome fun meant I have fallen behind. Su mi ma sen. (that means excuse me in Japanese).
The rest of Hakuba was super cool - we got into quite the routine of boarding all day, then eating all night. And playing some pool. We took a day trip to Kambayashi Ousen Guchi, just outside Nagano, to see monkeys what sit in hot springs.
Monkeys! They were brilliant, and very volumous in number - about 200 in this particular troop. And they just didn't give a monkeys (sorry) that there were loads of humans gawping at them. They just hung out, bathed, ate some fleas. Same old, same old.
After our monkey fest, we decided to have our lunch a fair distance away but not, I'm ashamed to say, in a designated picnic area. A couple of bites in to our sarnies and I hear "oh my god!" from Kez. Cue monkey bounding full speed towards us. Such was the shock and speed of the attack that I didn't have time to stuff said sandwich into my bag, nor into my mouth. Thus the monkey goes straight for me. Plus Alex and Kerry had legged it. Monkey-san grabs onto the dangly bits of my bag and will not let go, despite the fact that I'm shaking it around a lot. Luckily, Kez had the bright idea of chucking some of her sandwich into a nearby gorge. This disracts monkey momentraily, not killing it (don't worry), so I ran quick smart towards a designated picnic zone, where I was sure I would be safe. However, monkey started to pursue and a frantic chase over woodland and valley ensued. We finally lost him on a forest track, and when we found a picnic bench in a car park, we rewarded ourselves with some pocky (let me explain: this is a kind of Japanese chocolate.) All very exciting.
Here is me reasoning with a monkey, just in case he had a similar idea.
So, after a week of snow with a brief but thrilling monkey interlude, we headed to Tokyo. It is the most amazing city, but couldn't be more different to the quiet and mellow Hakuba. Neon, loud and packed, it is quite a shock to every sense. Highlights have been the Tsujiki fish market...
We had to get up at 4 to get there in time for the best fishy action, but it was worth it - absolutely crazy, with Kerry sized tunas, blood, guts, shouting and hundreds of Japanese men driving around on motorised trollies. Diving into pools of squid was sometimes the only way to escape hit and run.
Cat cafes! Another bizarre japanese invention, where lonely people can go and hang out with cats.
Onsen. These are Japanese baths, where you have to lose your inhibitions as it's a strictly no clothes event. Thus I don't actually have any pictures to show, but they are lovely - hot springs outside, surrounded by trees and high fences to keep out wandering eyes. You emerge looking like a cooked prawn, but who cares?!
Shibuya, Harajuku and Akihabura. These places are an assault on the eyes and ears, but the place to see the weird and wonderful of Tokyo
Teddy boys in Yoyogi park, in Harajuku. Foot high quiffs.
Stupid dogs, also in Yoyogi park.
People trying to cross roads in Shibuya.
Aracde games in Akihabura. So loud you think your brain might explode.
Final highlight has been all the food - sitting on the floor, cooking pancakes and drinking sake. Plum wine and flayed fish in a smoky restaurant surrounded by drunk businessmen. Mystery balls of stuff from a park stall. Raw things - fish, chicken (apparently OK in Japan) and various ofally bits, which could be cooked or not. Yum yummas.
Kerry is heading back tomorrow, which is rubbish, and Alex has to work for some reason, but I shall be heading on to Kyoto to hopefully gain some more things to write about! So will update again soon...ish.
Lots and lots of love xxxxx
p.s. a lot of these pictures are Kerry and Alex's, because I'm not very good at capturing moments photographically.
The rest of Hakuba was super cool - we got into quite the routine of boarding all day, then eating all night. And playing some pool. We took a day trip to Kambayashi Ousen Guchi, just outside Nagano, to see monkeys what sit in hot springs.
Monkeys! They were brilliant, and very volumous in number - about 200 in this particular troop. And they just didn't give a monkeys (sorry) that there were loads of humans gawping at them. They just hung out, bathed, ate some fleas. Same old, same old.
After our monkey fest, we decided to have our lunch a fair distance away but not, I'm ashamed to say, in a designated picnic area. A couple of bites in to our sarnies and I hear "oh my god!" from Kez. Cue monkey bounding full speed towards us. Such was the shock and speed of the attack that I didn't have time to stuff said sandwich into my bag, nor into my mouth. Thus the monkey goes straight for me. Plus Alex and Kerry had legged it. Monkey-san grabs onto the dangly bits of my bag and will not let go, despite the fact that I'm shaking it around a lot. Luckily, Kez had the bright idea of chucking some of her sandwich into a nearby gorge. This disracts monkey momentraily, not killing it (don't worry), so I ran quick smart towards a designated picnic zone, where I was sure I would be safe. However, monkey started to pursue and a frantic chase over woodland and valley ensued. We finally lost him on a forest track, and when we found a picnic bench in a car park, we rewarded ourselves with some pocky (let me explain: this is a kind of Japanese chocolate.) All very exciting.
Here is me reasoning with a monkey, just in case he had a similar idea.
So, after a week of snow with a brief but thrilling monkey interlude, we headed to Tokyo. It is the most amazing city, but couldn't be more different to the quiet and mellow Hakuba. Neon, loud and packed, it is quite a shock to every sense. Highlights have been the Tsujiki fish market...
We had to get up at 4 to get there in time for the best fishy action, but it was worth it - absolutely crazy, with Kerry sized tunas, blood, guts, shouting and hundreds of Japanese men driving around on motorised trollies. Diving into pools of squid was sometimes the only way to escape hit and run.
Cat cafes! Another bizarre japanese invention, where lonely people can go and hang out with cats.
Onsen. These are Japanese baths, where you have to lose your inhibitions as it's a strictly no clothes event. Thus I don't actually have any pictures to show, but they are lovely - hot springs outside, surrounded by trees and high fences to keep out wandering eyes. You emerge looking like a cooked prawn, but who cares?!
Shibuya, Harajuku and Akihabura. These places are an assault on the eyes and ears, but the place to see the weird and wonderful of Tokyo
Teddy boys in Yoyogi park, in Harajuku. Foot high quiffs.
Stupid dogs, also in Yoyogi park.
People trying to cross roads in Shibuya.
Aracde games in Akihabura. So loud you think your brain might explode.
Final highlight has been all the food - sitting on the floor, cooking pancakes and drinking sake. Plum wine and flayed fish in a smoky restaurant surrounded by drunk businessmen. Mystery balls of stuff from a park stall. Raw things - fish, chicken (apparently OK in Japan) and various ofally bits, which could be cooked or not. Yum yummas.
Kerry is heading back tomorrow, which is rubbish, and Alex has to work for some reason, but I shall be heading on to Kyoto to hopefully gain some more things to write about! So will update again soon...ish.
Lots and lots of love xxxxx
p.s. a lot of these pictures are Kerry and Alex's, because I'm not very good at capturing moments photographically.
Friday 2 April 2010
Hakuba!
We're here! We actually arrived a few days ago, but I'm a bit slow in getting this highly informative and exciting blog on line. This will hopefully be a way for me to let you all know that I'm alive, and doing some exciting things.
Kerry and I had a mammoth journey to Hakuba, which is in the mountainous middle/westy bit of Japan. We took two planes, on one of which we got slightly upgraded! To Economy EXTRA!
Here is Kerry enjoying the benefits of a little upgrade - a warm flannel. We also had a bit more leg room, a bag for our shoes and orange juice in actual glasses! We're did quite a lot of cheers-ing to our awesomeness and sneered at those traveling normal economy. Suckers.
We eventually arrived at Tokyo Narita, where Kerry's bro Alex met us, and we headed into central Tokyo to get our bullet train to Nagano (nearest city to Hakuba). Even from the train, Tokyo was overwhelming - massive and loud on the eyes. We escaped briefly to a little park by Ueno station, which is where we were getting our train, to see the first bloom of the cherry blossom season - beautiful, and hundreds of tiny Japanese people were out to share the loveliness. I felt like a big giant.
After our bullet to Nagano, we had to take a bus and a taxi before we finally arrived at our hostel in Hakuba. 26 hours after leaving home. Blurgh.
Hakuba is the base town to about 6 small ski resorts. Perhaps because it's the end of the season, or because it's been styled on a mid-west American town, but it's absolutely dead in a brilliantly eerie way. It's at the foot of mountains at the beginning of a big snowy plane, and has clapboard houses and lots of closed shops. And a 7 11. Our hostel is full of some very nice people though - I lent my suncream to a very tall Dutch man named Tommy, who had been horrifically sunburnt on a big hike. He didn't really seem to care that his eyes had almost swollen shut and he was tomato in hue - at home (Europe), he hikes for weeks at a time and sleeps in the wilderness in a sleeping bag, no tent. No biggie.
We've had three days of boarding, which has been sunny, rainy, patchy, painful and slushy. The best thing about the Japanese ski resorts are their lack of safety - usually no bars on chairlifts, or anything to tell you when or where to get on apart from a bell, or just a tiny marker stopping you from going off a cliff. But everyone waves and says arigato a lot, so they're a happy bunch despite major safety issues. We've been hitting the parks (by hitting I mean flying over things and falling off stuff) and having a lovely old time. We've also eaten lots of noodles and done a lot of sleeping.
We're here until next Wednesday, then heading off to Tokyo for a week to feel overwhelmed and drink saki and seat sushi. I'll hopefully write a little update from there.
Hope this hasn't been too boring! Lots of love to you, and send me your news too.
Sayonara, from Kez and Alex also
xxx
p.s. any questions about the name of this blog should be directed to Tone.
p.p.s. sorry for lack of pictures - will post more when I have more internet time.
Kerry and I had a mammoth journey to Hakuba, which is in the mountainous middle/westy bit of Japan. We took two planes, on one of which we got slightly upgraded! To Economy EXTRA!
Here is Kerry enjoying the benefits of a little upgrade - a warm flannel. We also had a bit more leg room, a bag for our shoes and orange juice in actual glasses! We're did quite a lot of cheers-ing to our awesomeness and sneered at those traveling normal economy. Suckers.
We eventually arrived at Tokyo Narita, where Kerry's bro Alex met us, and we headed into central Tokyo to get our bullet train to Nagano (nearest city to Hakuba). Even from the train, Tokyo was overwhelming - massive and loud on the eyes. We escaped briefly to a little park by Ueno station, which is where we were getting our train, to see the first bloom of the cherry blossom season - beautiful, and hundreds of tiny Japanese people were out to share the loveliness. I felt like a big giant.
After our bullet to Nagano, we had to take a bus and a taxi before we finally arrived at our hostel in Hakuba. 26 hours after leaving home. Blurgh.
Hakuba is the base town to about 6 small ski resorts. Perhaps because it's the end of the season, or because it's been styled on a mid-west American town, but it's absolutely dead in a brilliantly eerie way. It's at the foot of mountains at the beginning of a big snowy plane, and has clapboard houses and lots of closed shops. And a 7 11. Our hostel is full of some very nice people though - I lent my suncream to a very tall Dutch man named Tommy, who had been horrifically sunburnt on a big hike. He didn't really seem to care that his eyes had almost swollen shut and he was tomato in hue - at home (Europe), he hikes for weeks at a time and sleeps in the wilderness in a sleeping bag, no tent. No biggie.
We've had three days of boarding, which has been sunny, rainy, patchy, painful and slushy. The best thing about the Japanese ski resorts are their lack of safety - usually no bars on chairlifts, or anything to tell you when or where to get on apart from a bell, or just a tiny marker stopping you from going off a cliff. But everyone waves and says arigato a lot, so they're a happy bunch despite major safety issues. We've been hitting the parks (by hitting I mean flying over things and falling off stuff) and having a lovely old time. We've also eaten lots of noodles and done a lot of sleeping.
We're here until next Wednesday, then heading off to Tokyo for a week to feel overwhelmed and drink saki and seat sushi. I'll hopefully write a little update from there.
Hope this hasn't been too boring! Lots of love to you, and send me your news too.
Sayonara, from Kez and Alex also
xxx
p.s. any questions about the name of this blog should be directed to Tone.
p.p.s. sorry for lack of pictures - will post more when I have more internet time.
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