I`m having an awesome time here, the day trip to the great wall is easily one of the highlights of the entire trip so far. I`d signed onto the trip through the hostel. I originally just wanted to it on my own but it didn`t cost much more and at least it meant everything was sorted, the start time was 5:50 though which didn`t fit quite so well with my now somewhat lazy routine.
The walk was around a 10k hike between Jinshanling to Simatai, i didn`t want to do the usual Badaling bit as it just sounds horribly overrun with people and street sellers. I wanted to actually feel like i walked a bit of it rather than just go get the postcard style photograph, than come back. Also this was far more remote and the extra effect it would take would mean no chance of the dreaded "American family"
The ride there is just over 3 hours, and not the comfiest 3 hours either, about 10 of us cramped in this pretty tiny van, then add in some insane driving.
The walk itself was stunning, i mean really stunning, for such initial high hopes the fact i was in no way disappointed is testament to how cool this place is. You got to walk on original wall and at times had views from in front and behind where you couldn`t see a single person. By the end you where genuinely knackered and this huge zipline that you take to cross the river was a ridiculous amount of fun. They also chucked in a quick buffet before the 3 hour return journey.
We got back for half 7 and the hostel was having its daily event sort of thing. Monday (today) they have a free BBQ, Thursday is a sort of tea party and Friday `walk day` it was dumpling making, so we got the chance to fill up on these amazing dumplings. This, as food and beer usually does, drew a bit of a crowd and got everyone chatting and having a laugh. We`d also had a few beers by this time so when the suggestion to go to wangfujing market to eat scorpion came up it sounded like a pretty good idea. I tried pretty much everything put in front of me from, snake skin to sheep penis, scorpion was actually the only one that had a decent taste as all the others just made me want to vomit.
Back at hostel we all stayed up chatting about the nights events and then 24 hours after waking, i crashed out on my bed. Definitely a good day.
I was too tired to do anything the following day so apart from going for a Chinese hotpot with a lad from the hostel i really just sat around and enjoyed a day off.
The guy serving us did give us a proper laugh though as he came over and said i looked like "big ham" we obviously had no idea what that meant, but the guy was persistent and kept saying "big ham" "big ham" i tried helping him out by saying "like a pig?" (not sure why i said that?) but he then pointed at his feet and said "footballer" "ahhhh, beckham?" "yes, big ham"... quality! i was happy with that, despite the lack of any truth in it, he became my favourite person for a short while :)
Oh actually i did so something, Ben, a roommate who`d just checked in said he was off to a couchsurfing party and if i`d like to come with. So i ended up playing guitar hero at some girls house, drinking this 56% rice/vodka wierd drink, at some point dancing in a club and making it home alone. None of which i can really remember, and i`m only able to write this as i`ve been informed since with pictures and videos of the night from ben.
The 2 of us sat around in pain for the entirety of the next day with only a trip to the Olympic stadium to get a change of scenery from the hostel. Today we`re doing the summer palace and then the city almost shuts down for the start of the national holiday.
First off the hostel here is the best i`ve stayed in, which is a good job considering i`m stuck here till the 6th of October. For some reason i`m the only person who didn`t get the memo about Chinese national holiday, which means every train, bus and plane, hostel and hotel is booked up. The Chinese don`t piss around when it comes to holidays, all 1.7 billion of em get up and go somewhere.
This obviously means i`m in Beijing for the parade on the 1st which will be insane (check out the far superior pictures than mine on boston.com) but the place is in overdrive at the moment and there`s a proper buzz around the place. Security's at a maximum and it`s the 60th anniversary so it`s going to be huge. A few people have warned saying to keep a low profile as it`s a really strict festival and one i don`t think touristy, photo happy foreigners are all to welcome to. Sure i`ll be fine though...
My first day which was spent in a very tired state was at the forbidden city and the surrounding areas, it`s a good job it`s hugely impressive as anything less than stunning and i would of been found asleep on the floor. Like everything in Beijing though it`s epically big, i`d always thought it was a single square, the one you see in every film set in ancient China. But it`s not, there`s like 7 of them, then hundreds of corridors coming from them, then a huge garden area as well.
I slept like a baby that night, well till 5 o clock at least, when my alarm went off and i had to get ready for the great wall trip.
The following 12 hours have the potential to topple the Milan train journey, I`ve been guided into the shanghai waiting room along with a hundred others like cattle to the slaughter. I`ve got an hour till boarding but for the fact it`s a 110 yuan (11 quid) train journey that travels across half the country to Beijing, i`m somewhat sceptical about the quality of my journey. When you purchase your tickets there`s the usual class difference to pick. Soft sleeper; as in 4 bunk beds, toilet etc, Hard sleeper; 20 odd beds in one carriage 3 bunks high, Soft seater; which i`m guessing is something like a regular seat, then hard seater; which again as i`m yet to use a train is only off hear`say but seems to be a school bench running the length of one carriage. Obviously being the Cheap skate i am and my love of pain, i went with the hard seat.
I`ve been in Shanghai 3 night/4 days now.. i ought start with the boat and go from there i guess.a
We all stepped off the boat, happy to be back on steady ground again and had decided to all meet up after finding a ATM and chucking our bags in the hostel. Mine the "Mingtown Etour Hostel" wasn`t to bad to find and was shortly back at the meeting spot for the others. Some had a little more trouble than most, but eventually we all pretty much met back up and allowed kev to show us around. Kev was the Chinese Japanese/English speaking dude and had said he`d take us to get some good food. He first led us to the old town, it`s the place in the pictures with plenty of red lanterns and was my first experience to Dim sum. Although i`ve now been told it`s not really unless it`s in a soup or something like that!! But there basically little pork filled dumplings with a oily sauce inside. There Amazing (i know i`ve been saying allot things are amazing recently but these things really are, and for 6 it came to like 40 pence)
The old towns pretty cool, quite touristy but plenty of good street food and a bunch of souvenir shops to have a gander at. I can`t remember where we got took for the night meal, i was unable to re-find it over the following days, but i do remember that 11 of us split 11 meals, 15 or so bowls of rice and 22 beers and only had to cough up something around two pound ten each. After japan this was a god send. Oh crap, we`ve gotta go through ticket inspection, guess i`ll pick it up either on route if i have room or after arrival when there`ll probably be tear stains on this page :)
The train journey really wasn`t that bad, i didn`t get much sleep but i least had a seat this time, and was able to watch 30 rock on my lappy.
Ok next day, and rain! nothing but rain, not even umbrella copeable rain but the sort that makes it virtually impossible to go out in. I did venture out at one point to the modern art museum which was kinda part cool, part completely up it`s own arse... There was the video game flower on display, projected on a big screen in a large white room with a PS3 pad available to mess with. That was neat to see it given a spot in a place like that and at the night i went to visit Sarah a girlfriend of a ex-work colleague, well actually i went to meet her twice as i`d forgotten to change the watch from japan time and arrived an hour early first time through.
The next day and more rain, it was a real bummer not being able to go and explore, and this was now my last night. I`d met a Scottish couple the other day and spent most the time chatting and drinking with them, and after grabbing some lunch (which wasn`t great) i headed off to the station.
Talking of food the night before i went into a random restaurant with no English menu or person and after pointing at other peoples plates and saying chicken quite allot she went away and came back with just a fried chicken, feet head, everything! i poked it with chopsticks for a bit and in the end resorted to dumplings from a street market.
I was expecting the boat to be like the flight over, days of just me rambling in this thing for company, not many other foreigners and alot of boredom.
The reality is it`s been as good as any hostel I`ve been to. There`s about twenty of us English speaking lot from all over the globe and it`s been a proper laugh, we stayed awake drinking on deck, doing karaoke, and having dinner/breakfast with one another. The sea has been steady for the most part and honestly if I got told I`d have to stay a few days longer I wouldn`t mind in the least. We`re all gonna grab breakfast after dropping our bags in the hostel and there`s a British couple doing the same route through china so I may be tagging along with them for a little while.
We`ve been having Chinese lessons off a guy called Kevin and I`m really looking forward to China now, I know the basics of the language and got a good list of things to see and do, and a bunch of cheap as chips hostels to stay in along the way.
I know this is only a short entry but it`s still a boat when all said and done and mainly all I`ve seen has been water... we did do karaoke last night which i really wish i had a camera for. I didn`t sing but one Chinese guy did one of the greatest versions of Jon Bon Jovi`s "it`s my life" which had ever muscle in my body creasing up to stop me from crying with laughter. So you`ll just have to look at one of the sunsets we where there to witness instead.
I can see Shanghai now and it`s been cool to actually feel the distance rather than flying here in an hour from Tokyo, anyway tanoy says we`ve gotta go.. cya
Mainly as a way to entertain myself on this boat here`s a won`t/will miss list of Japan.
WON`T - The cost of this place! it`s ridiculous, even doing it as cheap as possible, eating once a day, skimping on activities it`s still 4 times the cost of anywhere else I`m visting (bar europe)
WILL - Politeness; with a very limited vocab you never feel helpless over here, people are quick to run to your side, give u directions etc... saying that at the same time it is hard to get past that point with them, to have a conversation is really difficult on the whole, even when they`re able to speak english, their amazingly introverted.
WILL - Food here has been really nice, I`ve tried all kinds of new stuff, certain sushi which I`ve never seen back home, the otoymaki, taky yaki (octopus dumplings) ramen
WON`T - Food here is also massively lacking in meat, veg, it`s to expensive to buy fruit and the portions are a little small for my comparativly much larger appitite.
WON`T - Crossing a road here is a very organized affair. The street can be the width of a car, a gap small enough that I could jump from pavement to pavement and yet there`s a green man crossing, there can also be no cars coming either way for as far as the eye can see but yet the queue will grow until the little man pops up and then everyone crosses together. The times when I`ve thought sod it and just quickly walked over have resulted in a look of shock from the locals as if I`d offended Budda himself.
WILL - Transport isn`t just the most effcient, clean and quick, but it`s also the most polite.. nothing like a little song when you arive at your destination and then a electronic "thank you" from the ticket machine as you go through.
WILL - I can`t imagine a cleaner place the world over. I saw a few pieces of litter in a month, and that was a real effort to search out. It`s not even like they have a good number of bins it`s just they have enough respect to just not launch it on the floor.
WILL - The amount of arcades and easy access to manga. I should of been born in Japan really, comics, games, movies, gadgets, cool design... it`s like listing my hobbies and interests.
I`ve officially left Japan now, we`re a night into our boat travel and the next thing we`ll be seeing is shanghai. I`ve really enjoyed myself the past few weeks. Japan was always `thee` country I wanted to visit and was as insane and attractive as I`d hoped. Their attitude to holding onto the countries history and yet embracing future technologies is something that`s lost on many parts of the world and something to be admired.
If I had to name highlights it would probably include...the gundam model which was amazing, the goverment building night view, the karaoke in shibuya, everything about tokyo i really enjoyed. The stumbling onto the festival in Nara was as cool as it was surprising and the giant budda in Todai-ji temple was quite something. Hiroshima and the sunset at Miyajima hold fairly strong memories as well.
I`ve put together a collection on flickr of an overview from Japan, so basically anyone who hasn`t been arsed to click through all the photos can see an overview here (yes I`m on a boat and a wee bit bored)
Rough guides opening line on Osaka is "Japans equivalent of the elephant man", and it`s true. The first day or two I strolled around, it`s impossible to think anything but this place is ugly. Compared to Fukuoka or Tokyo this place is like a street market. The shops are amazing mind you, some of the most desirable things I`ve seen throughout all japan, but as i lacked the budget to go shopping it was somewhat wasted on me, as was the number of places to eat and drink, as again I really didn`t have to budget to treat myself to expensive foods nightly. The people here as well had a slightly different attitude compared to the rest of the places I`d visited, people crossed roads on a red light, people bang into one another, fashion is taken to a new level of extreme, girls even showing shoulders, which although none sound like a big deal, for japan it really goes against the grain.. everyone has this slight edge to them and with it also came the first littering I saw since arriving (on a side note Osaka has the best looking population of any place I`ve ever visited, the place is a cat walk of a city)
But yet the more time you spend here, the more u grow to have a soft spot for the place, if I could pick up any city and stick it to the side of the UK, it`d be Osaka.............no that`s a lie it`d be Tokyo but it`s that sort of place. Love to live here but to sight see it`s a no-no.
For that reason the day before leaving for China I popped over to Takarazuka, the birth place of Tezuka who created Astro Boy and therefore the birthplace of Manga and Japanese animation (anime) It`s a tiny place and I`d only gone to see the manga museum really but the sun was out and as a trip away from Osaka it was a nice half day, plus on my return I checked into a capsule hotel, it was my last night and I wanted to give it a go you know. I mean watch the video, but I slept awfully. I`d once again bumped into the couple from Hiroshima who were doing the boat ride tomorrow and had a drink with a few other Brits as well, but in terms of sleep, no way! It reminded me way to much of hospital, the hard bed, the crappy pillow and especially the scrub like robes you have to put on. Probably not the best thing when you know you`re spending the next few days on a boat but it was a laugh and an experience.
I left Hiroshima amidst the baseball frenzy of a carps home game, i hadn`t watched any sports since leaving England and was gutted not to be going. I was considering if it might be possible to go to Fukuoka to check in, then return to watch the game and grab the last train back afterwards. But after doing that journey for the 1st time my desire to do it another 2 times over became a little less appealing than it initially had been.
I checked into this cool hostel `the khaosan fukuoka` and while he was entering my details i had a skim through this free city pamphlet, and there it was, hawks vs eagles, still baseball just a hell of a lot closer, 6 o clock start at the yahoo dome! I dumped my bags and shot off on a 45 minute bus journey to the match.
The ticket was only a thousand yen, that`s like 6 pound 50, and for a country this expensive i thought that was pretty good going. Obviously the cheap seats meant i was the furthest from the game, our seats had no backs and the band was directly behind us, but seeing as the extent of my knowledge extends to `three strikes and you`re out`, i`m pretty sure i wasn`t going to understand anything for the next three hours wherever i sat. It was really just a chance to get to experience the atmosphere of sports in japan, and quite a strange one at that.
Maybe "strange" isn`t the right word as it kinda implies it wasn`t fun, which it was. They just definitely have their own way of doing things over here, that`s all. For a start no-one claps, everyone has these hollow plastic sticks to bang together, then they have these crowd conductors (guess u probably call them that) who orchestrate what songs/chants are sung. But it`s the chants themselves that are the strangest of things. They`re just so overwhelmingly complicated, involving waving, pointing, twirls, singy bits... the video doesn`t show it off to well, but it`s like a more complicated `Macarena dance` and just about everyone in the crowd knows it. Well actually it wasn`t even an `it` there was loads of them. Each one had it`s own routine and singing section. I mean back home we can shout a chant out together, maybe not perfectly in tune. But imagine if you gave us all sticks, you could probably see within seconds everyone holding there head because there mate next to them will of decided to hit them with it instead.
It was a quality night though, everyone came and left with a smile despite in the end losing, and although i didn`t have a clue what was going on, and couldn`t join in with a single dance thing (this was despite the efforts of the two girls sat next to me and a 4 year old who couldn`t help laughing at my rubbishness) i`d spent the money i`d saved on the ticket on a nice few beers. So i quietly got a bit merry while everyone else sang there way through the game.
Oh i also had the nicest dinner here, in the way Hiroshima is known for its Okonomiyaki , and Tokyo for it`s sushi, here was for its ramen soup. Ramen`s like a noodle soup, slightly spicy (well it can be) plenty of spring onions and usually a couple slices of pork, and yeah it was delicious.
I slowly walked the shops and arcades, i even stuck my head in the inhumanly loud pachinko room and just before resorting to the cinema i took a look outside to find the rain had just about stopped and the sun was starting to shine again. I thought i might as well give the festival a go if the weather was to continue like this
The pictures from here probably do more to show what it was like than any ramblings from me, i wasn`t sure what they were celebrating, it was alot of people dressed in white and banging drums and bells. Have a look here for pictures and here and here for the videos
My return to the common room of the hostel was greeted with a lot of people speaking English and quite a few of which were drinking. They where off out to some 3000 yen all you can drink rock club, and i quickly took them up on their offer to join. Now i don`t have any pictures from the night and the fact family are probably reading this means it`s best if i just say i had a few more than your recommended daily amount and that i got the metro back at 2pm the next day, in a state that i think looked as though i`d just learnt how to walk for the very first time, sooooo.... next!
Well actually there wasn`t a next, i got myself 4 hamburgers and a bag of bread to toast and apart from a short walk in the afternoon, the day was spent mainly in a state of pain and tiredness.
My rail pass officially dies today so it`s a short wait now until the boat pulls in, then i`m off to China.
Hiroshima has probably been the biggest surprise of the trip so far, i wasn`t expecting all that much from it, but felt i couldn`t miss a city thats had such an impact on recent history and yet now i`m here it`s an amazingly good looking, nice city to be in.
The first thing you see off the tram is the `A bomb dome`. It`s barely able to support itself and obviously only a shell of a building, but when you consider this to be one of a very few number of buildings that would of been visible in august 1945 it has a considerable impact. I think the thing i`m liking so much about Hiroshima, and this feeling continued through to the peace flame and the museum, was its emphasis not on misery and loss but on optimism and hope for the future. The people who were lost have a building within the peace park which is incredibly tastefully done and well looked after. But on the whole, the place is a monument for peace, for the eradication of all nuclear bombs and a reminder of the horror of Nuclear war. Another uplifting thing was the amount of school groups from all over that where being taken around and having everything explained. It`s just good to see it being told and having a visible impact at such an early age. There was a french choir at the Sadako monument, if you don`t know the story, then read it! I`ll even put a link so just click here! They had a little ceremony where they presented a reef of cranes and sang a few songs, so that was nice to be there to see that.
Walking towards the museum you pass the `flame of peace` which will only be extinguished once the last nuclear weapon on earth has been destroyed. Then you come to the museum itself, which again is really well done, there`s no blame or hate. Just an underlying "let`s never let this sort of thing ever happen again, anywhere" message throughout.
Ok, serious bit over, i`m sure i`ll revert back to pictures of toilets and stories of me banging my head again before long.
The next morning i set off to Miyajima, it`s a little island that takes less than an hour from Hiroshima, I`m actually going back tonight to watch the sunset seeing as it`s little effort to do so.
The place is famous for it`s tori shrine that stands in the water at the islands entrance. It`s a cool little place, i mean it`s tiny really and you basically go to see that one view that`s in every book, travel guide and pamphlet on Japan. Oh and i learnt why every things painted that bright orange you see in all the pictures. It`s the same reason for the red in China and that`s because it`s believed to warn off bad spirits.. so there you go.
I Didn`t fancy the 2.5km walk to the top of Mt Misen, so after a good look everywhere i hopped on the ferry back to the hostel.
Pointless post this but what the hell. I just had to mention the toilets here. This is pretty much the standard, but the light comes on when u walk in, the toilet seat opens, fresh water is put in the bowl, you get a little light inside the toilet for no reason than i guess that it looks cool and also the seat is heated which is changable....... i mean come on, that`s just awesome. I couldn`t NOT mention this.
I have friends back home that if they had this i`d probably never get to see them again :)
This may be a little scatty but the last few days have been a little like that. I`ve really just spent time walking around the city and visting things i stumble upon, rather than searching out particular hotspots.One of the days i rented a bike and spent the entire day just wizzing around from place to place. Makes a nice change from walking. I rode over to the manga museum at one point which had previously been shut and spent a good hour out in the sun reading `lady snowblood vol 1`... the place is basically just a library dedicated to manga. There`s exhibitions and workshops etc but for the most part it`s just books and DVDs which you take and read or watch in one of the rooms or outside on their terrace. There was an international section and a kids bit aswell, so yeah, it was a pretty relaxed day. To be honest it`s been soo hot here lately part of the fun has just being doing quite little while out in sun.I did go to the imperial palace today though, it`s free to be taken around, you just have to apply for permission from the tourist office before hand that`s all. That was alright, to say it was the `Imperial Palace`, i don`t know, i guess i just expected it to be a bit more epic. I also went down the main geisha street (again). With it being my last day here i was hoping fate would do me a favour and maybe i`d see one. After a 10 minite wait hanging around one popped out of the door which was directly in front of me, i grabbed my camera, as u do, and took a few photos. As i did this others around me had noticed her and literally starting sprinting towards this girl, i think she was a Maiko, which is sort of a Geisha apprentice, and she looked petrified...these people were ramming photos directly in her face and stopping her from moving to were she was going, and i just felt horrible that i`d somehow been a part of this mob that had continued following her down the street. So i left after that. 12 days to see a Geisha, and when i happen to see one i left in a downbeat mood :(
Off to Hiroshima today for 3 nights and seeing as i`ve given the camera a rest for most of the last couple of days i`m really looking forward to arriving somewhere new and exploring a whole new area of Japan. Washings done, batteries are charged and the blogs up to date. Just a relaxing 2 hour train ride to go. 
On a forgetful note, i bumped into some school kids the other day at To-Ji flea market. They were doing their english assignment and had to interview english speaking people i.e "me" (although you wouldn`t guess it from reading this blog). It was really sweet as they read sentacaces off these bits of paper and tried to respond to my answers. Their english teacher sort of listened over my shoulder accessing them on how they were doing and after they all wanted signatures and photos, it was a nice moment and thought i`d write it up seeing as it popped into my head.
Part one of the day`s done, and success! I`ve got a chinese single entry visa and a boat confirmation from the ferry people to get there. It`s all falling into place now, plus a lad who did the boat trip in reverse has given me his China rough guide book so thats saved me a few pennies as well. Only the one moment of panic today when i arrived in Osaka and read on the back of my pick up receipt that it had to be collected between 9 and 12, and seeing as it was 5 to 12 as i was walking through Osakas underground, i had to get a move on. But anyway that`s all dealt with now and the fact i got it for 24 quid rather than the 60+ that it would of cost me back home, so doubly happy at the moment.I`m on my way to the 2nd part of my day now, and a chance to check out japans oldest and biggest remaining castle, hopefully there`s a cool looking picture of the place under here by the time you read this....
Dam it, should of kept my mouth shut about the good picture, i tried, but it was really difficult to get anything that properly showed it off, for a start it was huge, far bigger than i expected but you can only see it from either quite away away, as shown by the pictures, or right under it, as the view leading towards it is blocked by little alleyways. It`s well worth a look though, it might just not look it from the photos that`s all :( Inside it was all dark wood and had a really old heavy feel to everything. You`ve got no shoes on, like all places in japan there left at the entrance. So you get to creep round Bruce lee style. It actually reminded me of that place at the beginning of batman begins. A good day in all, back off to Kyoto now to find some place to eat and drink for the night. Pants are already becoming a little slacker round the waist, so think i need to eat a wee bit more before going to China, were no doubt i`ll then get extremely fat indulging on cheap food.
I had a day off yesterday, i`d done 15 hours of walking on the Geisha hunting day so apart from a visit to the big food market and a visit to the manga museum to find it closed. I sat and read, listened to podcasts and talked to people. It was like a Sunday afternoon back home when you just can`t be arsed to do anything, so i didn`t. Today i`m off to Takayama, hopefully it`s as much fun to visit as it is to say. But it has just started raining so hope that goes away before we arrive.
One hour to go, can`t stop calling the place tappan-yaki instead off Takayama, maybe i`m just hungry. Bad planning by me, i`d read it that the place was 1hr 30 to reach, but in fact there was a transfer followed by another 48 minute train ride. So instead of 3 hours on trains, by the time i get off, it`ll be more like 5! Ignoring that hiccup, the town was really pretty, a little quiet, it felt like a place a place samurai would of retired too. Wooden houses, subtle design, not to loud.. i was going to go to the old farm houses at Hida folk village, to see a more traditional lifestyle than that i`d experienced so far. But apart from the now `time limitations` the weather was starting to turn bad as well. I couldn`t get the best of photos but the sky above us was clear blue, with just a few scattered white clouds, but just a little further away towards the mountains was the weather of the devil. I`d never heard thunder this loud in my life, and the sky looked like that reveal shot of Mt doom in lord of the rings. Then this dark mist started to descend on the town, and everything went pretty dark. I was already shooting on the highest exposure i could, but soon it was too dark to get anything of merit.
I thought the idea to rush around to the old town farms was going to be a journey wasted and on my way back to the station all the rain in the world started falling... so yeah, not the most productive of days, but it did give me chance to listen to the latest adam and joe podcast which amused me greatly. I`ve got to pick up my visa in the morning so that means another trip back to Osaka but i`m going to try and fit in a visit to Hemeji to see the castle providing things go smoothly.
I`d heard all manners of problomatic stories at embassies etc so had decided to get up really early and get off to Osaka and get the first of my Visas sorted as soon as possible, i had my passport, my passport photocopy, the filled in documents and a passport photo.. so i was fully prepared. I got there at 9 as planned and by 9:05 was outside all sorted. Apart from a few questions, she stamped it and told me to pick it up friday at the cost of 4000 yen (about 28 quid) so although at the time of writing i don`t have either my passport or Visa, by tommorrow i should.
So with my morning dealt with much quicker than aticipated, i thought i`d revert to big kid mode and go off to Osaka`s famous aquarium for the day. I don`t think i`d been to an aquarium since sea life in blackpool when i was about 6 and i really enjoyed myself. The building itself was pretty impressive and directly next to it was this ferris wheel, bigger than any i`d ever seen. On closer reading that was because it was the biggest in the world at 112m high.
I got back for around 5 and just went and sat at the imperial palace, sun bathed a bit and wrote up the book, i`d met a couple from sydney in the hostel the other night and had arranged to meet up for a beer and hopefully spot a Geisha or two. Seeing a Geisha is like seeing a panda in the wild over here, or for me it`s as likely as finding the door to Narnia as we saw squat. But i did have a nice beer in good company so all in all a good night.
This was a fairly chilled day so i`ll keep it short, i got out after a longer lie in than usual. I was heading to Arashiyama and to their bamboo groves and after a 30 min train journey was there. Off topic but the JR rail pass is amazing, it`s intial cost is soul cruching but you get on and off anywhere, they`ll make reservations for free in seconds... after the problems we had with the interrail passes in europe, this is just a joy to use, anyway back to the day, i`d felt like i`d seen so many temples by now and the admission fees were beggining to drain my daily budget so much that i decided to skip the main attraction of `Tenryu-Ji` and go straight on to the bamboo groves. There`s not really much to write about apart from the bamboo, i mean it`s alot of Bamboo, a really impressive walk and looked nice though. I resisted going on the train which you get led out too. It was suppossed to be some of the niciest train scenery in the Kansai area but it was called the `romance train` and everything was heart themed etc, and even i didn`t have the amount of shame you`d need to go on that by yourself, so i opted to walk back instead.
It had only been and hour or two walk and i still had plenty of the day left, i`d had the day jotted down as a time to do some washing and planning, the chinese visa was still unresolved and the boat to Shanghai not confirmed i had plenty to do, but thought i couldn`t go back without at least visiting the monkey park, which i`d heard a few people talking about over the past week or so.
The monkeys here are free to roam and aren`t tagged or caged so i didn`t feel bad about visiting, in fact the only enclosure is for the humans in case they want to feed the animals, so that was kinda cool.
Like i say the rest of the day was washing and thats really not worth writing about apart from the fact i did a full wash with what must of been a few tissues left in a pocket, so i ended up with tissue decorated clothes and a fun hour job picking each piece off. But apart from that it was a bit of drinking then bed.
This day was one of those where you just happen to stumble on something you had no idea was going on. I arrived to the streets crammed with people, loads of spectators with flags and cameras. I still haven`t figured out what they were celebrating if anything at all but it was a full on street party, with these dance groups leading the way. I hope the pictures turn out as impressive a spectacle as it was. It was really refreshing from the mornings sort of solo walk to suddenly being around so much life and colour. The dancing led to todai-ji temple (past countless deer, who line the streets in Nara) and ended in a final dance display with each group taking center stage for a single dance.
I had to abandon the party temporarily for a look in the temple as it was fairly epic from the outside, and despite the shrine fatigue i was mildly suffering the giant Buddha inside is well worth a look.
I really liked Nara it`s a gorgeous place and given the time maybe i`ll go back and explore the rest, as after i`d watched the final dances and eaten some more `food on a stick` it was going dark and i had to be back at the hostel before i got locked out.
Quite alot of hostels have this idiotic rule about curfews, we tried rebelling the night before to no luck, so as for now i have a bedtime.
...active led me here, to Fushimi-Taisha. This is again a shrine, but one that was up a mountain lined with 30`000 tori gates. Plus it was dedicated to the gods of sake and rice. It was a good change of pace and once you hit the halfway point and people opt to take the opportunity to go down the smaller route. You get a chance for a bit of solitude, a bit of time away from the endless crowds. I did bump into one old couple who started chatting away to me, asking where i was from and where i was going, and after asking for a picture with me, i pushed on to reach the summit.
The route is broken up with these little shrines that mostly consist of stone foxes with little red bibs on, foxes are believed to have the power to possess humans in Japanese mythology, so there was something kind of creepy walking through them with no-one else around. I finished far earlier than i thought i would. I was expecting it to take most the day but by 1\2ish i was down and ready to head back. I was thinking of heading to the imperial palace parks and relax there. Which incidentally is where i`m writing this now. But as i was half way to Nara already and pretty much had an entire day left, i got off the train heading back to Kyoto and 5 mins later was going back the way i came and onto Nara. God i love the JR railways and this pass.
Ok, it`s taken a little while but it feels like i`ve got the hang of this travelling malarkey now. Tokyo i went at the place full speed, and it took 2 days in Nikko to rest up, and kyoto, 4 days in seems to hit the right kinda pace somewhere between the two.
The first day resulted in my first planning error, as on arrival i was told i wasn`t meant to check in till the 28th, a day later.....Craaap! The guy suggested another place down the road "the budget inn" not the most faith restoring of names but it was 2 mins walk and the same price, he also rang and booked it for me etc and the night was fine, no panick.
Kyoto seems big, feels even more so than Tokyo without the massive underground, but i knew i had a long time here and this time was going to take it at a slightly more relaxed pace. The major, or really just the most popular area of attractions seem to be in southern Higashiyma, mainly for the temple `Kiyomizu-Dera` but there`s a stream of impressive sights and shrines in the surrounding area as well. In order not to miss anything i followed a walking guide from lonely planet. I usually hate doing that, i don`t like the idea of walking the exact footsteps of someone whose done it all before, just loses the chance of surprise, but at the same time it took me to places i would of sure to of missed without it and had a nice chilled day. God knows what i did that night, i`m checking my camera...crap it`s on the other card. Lets just say nothing. On to the next day!
The weather so far, since arriving in London, has on the whole been amazing but as i arrived to kinkakuji (more commonly known as the golden temple, for reasons kind of obvious) the sky was a horrible grey and the humidity was unbearable. The temples cool, i mean it looks nice, but your only view point is from across the pond and i`ve seen that photo 100`s of times researching the trip and i don`t think you get anything extra from being there in person, or maybe it was just the weather making it look less impressive than it is
A short walk down the road close to the entrance to Ryoan-ji and the heavens opened, first time to feel rain in months and it bucketed it down. I`d just got to the temple and to shelter as it started to come down heavier but was pleasantly surprised to read from my book that this place, which is counted as the nicest of zen gardens in japan is best seen when raining (silver lining and all that) I sat for a good hour waiting for the rain to stop, with my legs dangling over the edge. It`s not like i had a moment of Epiphany but i came out feeling pretty good about myself and back to a blue sky and sunshine. The road then bends round to ninna-ji, which again is covered in temples, shrines and gardens. You could honestly be anywhere in Kyoto and be within a stone throw from any number of world heritage sites. At the night (i`m back on this camera card now) i went for an overly pretentious sake drinking tasting session with two sisters from the hostel, it was a good laugh actually.. despite the guys analytical ways. We got a tad drunk and learnt a little in the process.
By day 3 i was wanting to do something further a field, i`d done a fair amount of slow, quiet, shoeless walking and now fancied something a little bit more active.....
Nikko's a little place north of Tokyo, it was once a place were Japanese high rollers pumped loads of money into lavish shrines and memorial temples etc, it's now a national park and world heritage site. I'd just done 4 busy days in Tokyo and I'm thinking Kyoto is going to be equally busy so nikko was me having a two day rest, travellings hard u know, lol! The little lodge I was staying in is super sweet, there's a big fire in the main section, a yoga room for morning exercises and cosy rooms. I had no-one on the bed above me and a friendly Canadian couple who had moved to japan a few months back in the bed opposite.
The day I got here, after an almost vertical uphill climb with my bag, my body didn't want to do anything but grab a can of asashi (asashi seems to be japans carling) and sit out enjoying the clean air, something Tokyo may be somewhat lacking. The temperature just that little bit more northern was far cooler and I can't believe I'm saying it but it nice to be a little bit cold. I'd been sweating since the beginning of august and now I was considering putting a jacket on. I got to bed at 9.15 about the earliest I have done since maybe turning 16. I didn't even need an alarm to be up for 7. 
Shrine time; I picked a fairly non-strenuous walk for my day, probably about 10-12k so that it encompassed the main shrines and also the disappearing monks.
The first thing i hit was the sacred bridge 'shin-kyo' which leads you towards the first of the temples. It goes on for quite a bit, exquisite temple after another. I got there one of the first and had the place to myself, for quite a while. It made a world of difference being able to walk around with no queues or crowds of people taking photos.
The disappearing monks are these fellas below, called jizo statues, protectors of travellers. Their thing is if you were to count them one way, then the number would be different on the return route, hence the disappearing thing. I lost count mid way the first walk so I can't say either way. 
Seeing as nikko was my treat away from the cities, I also had my first proper sit down meal. A place called 'hippari dako' recommended from lonely planet, it was amazing, I had pork balls and chicken tareyaki with noodles and rice. My body had gotten used to my own cooking and microwaved meals so I think it came as a shock to the system. I'd also gone over on my ankle by this point, nothing bad but thought it best to go back and rest. It was so nice taking my backpack off and not seeing a sweat outline where I once had it rested. So after another clean shave, which I'm starting to get used to, I settled down to watch some BBC world in possibly the most relaxed state since setting off. Another early night and I was back to my best again.
I've just seen a bullet train go flying past, shit they go quick. I'll be on my way to Kyoto shortly.