Rhod and Anna's World Adventure

Geisha
The highlight of my time in Kyoto has been indulging in my favourite pastime....celebrity-spotting. The pictures above are of Geisha. If you`ve read `Memoirs of a Geisha` or seen the film, you`ll know that these women are regarded as A-list celebrities in this country. They arrive in cabs and rush into teahouses in Gion to `entertain` rich businessmen. Apparently it`s all above board....hmmm. We knew the prime places to spot them and made our way to this street, cameras at the ready. We felt quite suspect as we were loitering with some serious intent. However, we needn`t have worried because the street was lined with dodgy-looking old Japanese men with the same intention as us. The low point in the stalking was when a particularly odd looking man in a sun hat carrying a camera with telephoto lens and a folder containing pictures of Geisha smiled and nodded at me as if I was part of his special gang. We weren`t disappointed. As soon as a cab pulls up to a teahouse, people descend on these women like paparrazzi. It`s a disgusting invasion of privacy isn`t it? Just shoving a camera up to a car window like that. Poor women. They then emerge from these teahouses at about midnight but we weren`t going to hang around to find out. It felt dodgy enough. (So Gary, not many points for context but quite a few for the actual celebrity rating, don`t you agree? Please consult the panel and confirm our scores.)

Temples
We have been temple bashing for the last 2 days. It`s an important thing to do when in Kyoto. (Sorry Dad, but there were no catholic churches on the sightseeing map!) Temples as you can imagine are full, or at least surrounded by, tourists. I was surprised by the fact that the majority of the tourist are........Japanese? Are the majority of tourist in London British? The good news for the buddhist community is that their country men come flocking to the temple and will pay for anything. Bits of wood to write prayers on. Lucky charms (Not the cereal) you name it they will buy it. We on the other hand don`t buy anything like this. Partly because we are living on a budget but mainly because we have no idea what any of the things say.

Visiting temples is a highly invovled event. It should not be entered in to lightly and certainly not by anyone who can`t tie their own shoe laces. Slip-on shoes would be a real treat for temple goers. If only I`d known I would have popped a pair in my pack to make the last 2 days easier?

Drag Queens
That ain`t no woman baby!

This season the fashionable Japanese ladies are wearing skirts and boots. They carry the style off very well (too well in fact - they even wear them sightseeing!) However, Japanese men do not have the ability to carry this style off! We had prime window seats in a cafe on Kyoto`s equivalent to Oxford Street - prime people watching location. Hairy legged Japanese men in skirt, tights and boots is not the type of spotting you want to be involved in. It can really put you off your lunch. (Don`t worry, I wasn`t put off my lunch - I`ve got some fainting-prevention to do!)

There has been a posting delay due to a lack of free internet in this hostel. So this is a few days in one hit.

Saturday

It`s typical! You wait all day for a sumo and then 2 come along at once! We were wandering around Tokyo station indulging in my new favourite sport of hitting small japanese people with a large rucksack (I`m good at it. 4 on one tube journey!) when we finally spotted some! 2 Sumo wrestkers were wandering through the station in the direction of the bullet train. They are big. They also wear socks with their flip flops which is in my view a fashion disaster but now I`ve stood near to 2 of them I will not be telling them what I think. I was impressed until I happened to glance down and saw that one of them was trailing a suitcase behind him with the words `Marie Claire` emblazoned on the front. He lost all his manly butchness in a split second! Unfortunately as we were carrying our luggae we were unable to get a photo so you will have to live with the description. Big men, hair in pony tails, flip flops with socks and wearing dressing gowns.

Happy with our spot we hopped on a bullet train to Kyoto. The train lived up to more of it`s bullet name this time. And we got a great picture of Mt Fuji

When we arrived we spent one and a half hours trying to get money out of a cash machine. It shouldn`t have been so hard but we started to panic as it got to 6pm on Saturday and we only had 1000 Yen (5 quid) I had visions of livving a minimalist life until the banks opened on Monday. So if you`re ever stuck in Japan and you need a cash machine the key is to avoid all the banks and head straight to the post office!

We found a great place to eat that night next to the hostel. Halfway through the meal I start to feel slightly uneasy. 2 Japanese girls on the table next to us have stopped their conversations and are staring at me. OK, so maybe I am fumbling with my chopsticks and have noodles hanging from my mouth but that`s no need to stare. Then it gets worse. They turn to each other and start giggling. I`m starting to think that I have met my first rude Japanese person when one of the girls leans over to me and asks in broken English `Where are you from?` in a perfectly friendly manner. So I answer politely then they turn back to each other, giggle, talk in Japanes then the girl turns back to me with a dead straight face and asks the second most important question you need ask a Brit.....`Do you know Beckham?` !!!!!!!!! The disappointment on her face when wｅ said we`d only seen him play football! I think from now on if we get asked such an important question we`ll just have to lie to make us seem more interesting.

Sunday

It seems fitting that I should start this entry off because the whole day pretty much revolved around me! Me, me, me!
It had been chucking it down all morning and after sitting in the hostel lounge for quite some time we decided to go out to get some lunch. We found a brilliant pizza-pasta place. Not content with the amount of attention I was getting in this restaurant, I decided to do something to change all that....I fainted! Yes, you heard me right, I fainted in my seat with the forkful of carbonara halfway to my mouth. (Sorry Mum, it was too expensive to tell you about over the phone!)Emma and Caroline, I know you`ll appreciate this one as I have a habit of doing it in public places on holiday. Poor Rhod. He managed to shovel a glass full of ice down my back as I sat there delirious in my world of darkness and stars. You`ll be pleased to hear that my food didn`t go to waste though and that I carried on eating shortly afterwards as if nothing had happened. I even said to Rhod `Coor, I nearly fainted then!` He had a different version of events for me. If you can picture the scene I`m a little torn. I`ve just been presented with pizza and pasta and I am taken away from it in order to hold my girlfirends head up so she doesn`t bang it on the wall whilst she is not with the rest of us who are sitting in the restaurant. How inconvenient. I was swapping concerned glances between Anna (who I was obviously worried about) and my food (which I was desperate to eat for fear that I would perform the same stunt). Lets be fair. I was in no danger of pulling the same stunt. I have some spare capacity so I can miss a few meals.
I think it happened because I haven`t been eating enough so this `fiasco` has given me the perfect excuse to just eat loads now! Rhod is happy to go along with me on that one.

What can we add that could be more interesting than that? Nothing much happened for the rest of the day.

We started the day with the alarm going off at 6:30 (sorry, didn`t we leave our jobs?) as we had a much-anticipated appointment with a sumo school master...or so we thought. It would have been the ultimate Japan experience; watching wannabe-sumo wrestlers in training in a small intimate `stable`. I had been looking forward to this for the last few days. However, we must have picked the only time in the year that the wrestlers have time off, a bit like coming to England expecting to see a football match in July. I like to think the wrestlers spend the closed season in the Japanese equivalent of Aiya Napa, riding mopeds and getting embroilled in kiss and tell stories. Oh the disappointment! We tried 3 stables, but none were open or even answering the doors. We didn't even see any fattys who we could take a picture of and pretend they were sumos. Not even a hot chocolate in McDonalds would cheer me up. (Can I just say in our defence that Maccy D`s is the cheapest place to buy hot drinks in such an expensive country!) I couldn`t believe that we had to walk through the smoking section of it to get to the non-smoking section which was not even sectioned off! The cheek!

So we decided to go to a place called Kamakura instead, famous for its Buddhist temples and scenic coastal views. Wrong!!! With the realisation that we hadn`t done any proper exercise for a long long time, we decided to hire bikes and explore the town. I swear it only started to rain once we had set off on our flat-tyred excuses for bikes!! We could have been riding along Margate seafront for all we knew. It was too wet and dreary to appreciate. The place reminded me of Barry Island. I think the rain helped jog the memory. We were just wishing the time away before we could return our bikes and return to being dry and warm!

So what do you do when you`re looking like 2 drowned rats? You go to the most exclusive part of Tokyo of course. Roppongi Hills...home to the rich and glamorous shopping in ridiculously expensive boutiques. We stood out like a sore thumb - but hey, we had some practice at the Park Hyatt yesterday! We looked like a couple of extras from a Matalan advert. I thought we would be escorted off the premises. But the Japanese are too polite for that luckily.

I perfected my sleeping-on-a-train skills on the way home. I`m getting really good, only the one jolt and no dribbling.

When you are in a sprawling metropolis, like Tokyo, it's important to get high. As high as possible.

Thursday was the day to get high in Tokyo. I'm not talking narcotically high but altitudinally high. There is a clause to this for the budget traveller. You need to get high for free. Luckily I have Anna with me and she is very good a sourcing free viewing points out of the Lonley Planet.

We set of in the direction of ebisu station and the Yebisu Garden Place which has restaurants on the 39th floor. Brilliant! We've set off a bit late so when we arrive we can just nip up to the 39th floor and eat. Food with a view. What more could you want.

Lesson Learnt: Food with a view carries a price that doesn't sit well with the budget traveller. So we just did the view and then we returned to the basement for some food that was more in our price range.

Yebisu Garden place turned out to be a real find. It had a beer museum and entry was free. Get in! The Welling Gang would have loved it. It was great museum. It contained a full description of the brewing process but only in Japanese. What I picked up from the museum. Barley, Hops, Water, yeast....BEER! There was also a strange art display of photographs of people riding dwarf horses. The lady who had taken the pictures took great pleasure in showing us around so we looked interested.

Time was pressing and a thirst for further viewing of the city from on high was building.

Shinjuku quenched that thirst! The Tokyo government building observation deck on the 45th floor. Check that out. 6 floors up on the previous event and still not a penny spent. View was very nice.

Some people are never happy. Particularly when they have been advised that there is a gem available just around the corner. Getting high was free but staying high would cost.

The Park Hyatt Hotel New York Bar and Grill in Tokyo which has been made famous by the film 'Lost in Translation'. (You know the one? Bloke from Ghostbuster's and Kingpin films whisky commercial in Tokyo and hooks up with girl whose boyfriend has left her in the Hotel. Something like that anyway) is on the 52nd floor and getting there is free. Even if you are dressed like a vagrant, which is a new look I'm sporting. I would like to think that we were being stared at because I bear an uncanny resemblence to Scarlett Johannson! But maybe not.

A level of cool is required when you are handed the menu in an establishment such as this. It takes all of ones inner poise to not go wide eyed and choke when you see the price. This is even more difficult if you are attempting to exist on a limited budget. 1000 Yen for a bottle of Beer! That's 5 quid. Add 10% service charge and although the bank isn't broken it's quaking at the thought and the manager has his finger poised to call you and tell you to not order a second one. (Simon, can you believe this is your sister spending 5 whole british pounds on a bottle of Sapporo beer?? No longer can you sing Simply Red's 'Money's Too Tight To Mention' at me in reference to me being tight-fisted!)

It was worth every penny. We arrived at the top at dusk and nursed our drinks for the best part of an hour as we watched it get dark over Tokyo and all the Neon lights come on. It doesn't get much better than that! Well worth giving up work for! I was in my element - the only thing that could have enhanced the experience would have been spotting a celebrity!

The evening was completed by wandering into the sprawling mass of neon lights that is Shinjuku at night. We nearly braved a Pachinko parlour (a kind of vertical pinball game) but instead just stood and gawped at the rows of Japanese business men hooked on this game! We will master this game before we leave Japan.

We both enjoyed getting high in Tokyo!!

We set off at the best time on Wednesday...rush hour! Thermals are not needed in this situation! We were on our way to Nikko, a place 2 hours north of Tokyo famous for its Shinto shrines and temples. We knew it was set up in the hills so we were thermalled-up! Red-faced and sweating, we managed to find our way to the bullet train (a shinkansen called Max). When bullet trains pull in to the station to start their journey the cleaners stand guard, broom in hand and bow to the driver. You wouldn't see that at home....when have you ever seen a cleaner on a train? Once it stops they all jump on and efficiently clean the train and turn the seats around if required as everyone travels facing forwards. I was expecting to find some sort of seat belt arrangement and was prepared for g-force but it turned out to be distinctly un-bullet-like! However, the scenery on the way to Nikko was beautiful with snow-capped mountains in the distance. We arrived and decided to brave the uphill walk to the temples, which was somewhat shocking to the tourist information lady who felt the need to wear a mask to protect herself from disease-ridden foreigners. (So many people here wear masks, especially on the trains going to and from work...this lady had clearly forgotten to remove her mask when she got to work that day!) On the mask subject. Firstly I'm not sure what they are protecting themselves from. Secondly the majority of masks available seem remarkably dis-functional. I feel I should advise these people that if your mouth or nose is visible through the top, bottom or side of the mask it's probably not offering the level of filtration that you might be hoping for.
Anyway, we managed the walk perfectly well and bought a combination ticket to get us into all the temples and grounds. It had been snowing there recently which added to the beauty and serenity of the place. It was freezing though and we were grateful to have our thermals on despite the unpleasant experience on the train! By the way, all the train seats in Tokyo appear to be heated! Anyway, it was a lovely place and we were starving by the time we left. We had read about this little cafe in Nikko in the Lonely Planet and it certainly lived up to its great review. We had the nicest meal so far - shame we had chopsticks which hindered the speed that the food went in our mouths! Sticky chiken on skewers, noodles, rice and deep-fried vegetables - yum. The place was called Hippari Dako and should be visited by anyone going to Nikko. Take something to pin to the wall.
The result of all this food and a much-appreciated heated seat meant instant sleep for me in particular. Apparently I almost had my head on the guy's shoulder next to me, but he was reading porn so I probably could have dribbled on his shoulder and he wouldn't have noticed! He was wearing a mask. Careful to stop any filth entering his mouth and nose but unconcerned by the filth entering his eyes! The rest of the evening passed in a sleepy haze - went to bed at 9pm! Party animal or what!?

Lessons learnt number 1...Never get into a conversation with a man you know smells! It's obvious that he smells from a long distance.
Ok, so it's dinner time and we're about to tuck into a quite adventurous (for us) Japanese meal in the hostel lounge. Having just woken from a power nap your body wanted to last all night, you're feeling a little delicate anyway. So we're ploughing through this concoction of random Japanesee things with our inefficient chopstick style and Derek the balloonologist gets up from the sofa he is lying flat out on and wanders over to our corner (where we are trying our best to hide from him ironically.) He kindly offers us the sweat stained sofa (hmmm, tempting!) and is about to leave when my well-meaning boyfriend (who only has the makings of a best-seller in mind) asks him the question that is to put an end to our enjoyment of our meal...."So what does a balloonologist do?"

It's a good question. It had been bugging me since i had smelt, sorry, seen him yesterday wearing his embroidered jacket. The answer is long and drawn out but to give you a general overview of the situation I will sum it up as a mish mash of Paul Gadd, a sex tourist, a low grade magician, a charity worker and a front for crazyness that probably had no part in his original life. It also seems to be an excellent excuse for not cleansing. Highlights of the conversation were that 'Thai women are all ugly ex-men' (or is that X-Men?) and 'I'm not leaving Japan until I'm married' I feel there is a long stay ahead...and I just feel sorry for the Japanese women!
He told us he had been picked up at the station and taken to lunch by a beautiful japanese woman. I've interpretted that as 'I got picked up and taken to the police station where I was questioned by a female japanese police officer and given some food'. I wonder which one of us is the closest to the truth. I still feel sick from the whole encounter. He was too close for comfort and when he began to pick his nose as I was biting into a bit of raw fish I felt my stomach lining make an upward surge towards my throat!!!

The day started early due to odd sleeping patterns. The best thing to do when you are awake early in Tokyo is to go to the fish market. So we did and by 6.30 we were virtually wading through fish guts and looking at and photographing more fish than you could ever hope to want to see. Tuna are big. I can confirm that you would get alot of tins from one fish.

Although interesting fish had limited appeal which presented the problem of being out and about very early in a city that doesn't really open up to the tourist until 10. So we wandered (via McD's for coffee) and filled our time whilst heading in the general direction of the Imperial palace gardens. (Photo above) Gardens were good but could not really capture the attention of 2 tired people who had got out of bed at 5.30am so we had to go and find some food. Rhod thinks I'm being paranoid but I swear we were being followed by the guards on patrol in the park. They just seemed to appear everywhere we went with no purpose whatsoever. I almost didn't believe Rhod when he said that one of these guards followed him into the loos but it's true!

After lunch we decided that we needed to do a circuit of the Tokyo equivalent of the circle line. It took about an hour and Anna fell asleep. I'm just trying to fit in with the culture...they all do it over here! We hopped off a Akehababra which is the electrical town. Lots of different goods from MP3 players to funky laptops, mobile phones and high tech japanese....dishwashers. In the end we had to go and sleep as we could take no more walking. Little did we know that the highlight of the day was yet to come and involved a baloonologist!

We`ve left the UK. We left in a bit of style as well seeing as we got upgraded for the flight. Not to business or first class but up from World Traveller to World Traveller Plus. May not sound like much but It pleased me.


We couldn`t wipe the insane grin from our faces but our enthusiasm was nothing compared to the over-friendly air-hostess who kept making announcements over the tannoy about wanting to get to know all of us personally by the end of the flight! Ooo er!!

So nearly 12 hours after leaving Heatrow we arrived In Tokyo to be greeted by......rain.

This was not a problem with new waterproof coats and waterproof rucksack covers we boldly strode out of the metro station........ in completely the wrong direction.

We were so smug because the rest of the journey on 3 trains had been no problem! We were even declaring ourselves somewhat Japanese travel gurus!! Oh the shame!

Swearing commenced and turning around and going back to the start swiftly followed and with a second attempt (using a McDonalds as a impromptu GPS device), I hasten to add that we did NOT give in to the lure of the golden arches! Yet!, we have now safely found our way to the hostel. We now need to get some food. Has any one seen any golden arches around here..........

Our world adventure begins on Sunday 19th Febraury.

By way of a guide through this blog we have borrowed an idea from the book "Are you Dave Gorman?"

Anything Rhod writes will appear in normal text like this.

Anything Anna writes will appear in bold text like this.

Easy I'm sure you will agree.