This is just a mid-festive season update to let you know I'm well and that nothing of note has really changed since the last one. In other words it's a waste of your time and mine, but then probably only one of us could be on the beach right now, so stop complaining.
We were out again last night, Manly again, which I can't help thinking reminds me of Llandudno.
It is scorching outside, probably the hottest day since I arrived. I've still not gone surfing, which is embarrassing to admit, but the sea is good to swim in and the beach is phenomenal. I think I could be in the throws of mid-conversion to beach bum.
The place is very British, with the typical British 18 - 22 stupidity, which can be both entertaining and a little embarrassing. Someone actually tried to boil an electric kettle by putting it on the hob on Christmas Day, setting the thing on fire. Some people have moved out because the place gets so riotous, but if you book into a Sydney hostel at this time of year you've got to expect that sort of thing.
I'll be at the Harbour on New Year's Eve, watching the fireworks drinking Goon, the local delicacy, a white wine made with fish and eggs (I kid you not, it says so on the bottle). And have a date with a very nice Dutch girl on New Year's Day. Hope you all have a great New Years.
Saturday, 27 December 2008
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
The festive season in Collaroy Beach
Life is pretty chilled out right now, even if the weather is pretty warm most of the time (looking out the window, it's overcast right now). The hostel is good, I seem to have made a pretty decent group of friends, and everything seems very easy. My birthday was spent on the beach, playing poker in the evening, before returning to the beach for some late night revellery and surprisingly some rugby. Last night we were out in Manly - the nearest town. We struggled to get everyone into a decent bar as all places asked for ID and a few members of our crowd didn't have any. Sydney is a great city, really stylish and of course with the harbour bridge and opera house as its landmarks. Sorry it's a bit quiet right now, hopefully new chaos will reign soon. Thanks to everyone who has left messages on this blog and to all of you who have continued to read it. Happy Christmas everyone.
Friday, 19 December 2008
G'day Sydney
Have arrived safely in Sydney. Staying near Colleroy Beach, which is a little way outside the city. Have shelled out 170 of your English pounds for a working visa while I'm here so have to make the most of it. It starts tomorrow with labouring for some bloke! Labouring?! Usually the worst physical strain I get from work is from holding the phone between head and shoulder, while typing at the same time. Anyway, how hard can life on an Aussie building site really be? Oh dear.
The hostel is great, really lively, although everyone here seems to be British, which I've nothing against, but a bit of multiculturalism never goes amiss. Anyway will be here for a fortnight at least, taking me past Christmas and New Year (and a certain birthday we'll try to forget about as the average age here seems to be between 18 and 22), to January 2. Then I've got to decide what to do. I think I'll take a three day outward bound type thing - advertised here - before moving to central Sydney and doing some more working before, hopefully, a few days blagging in Queensland and the supposedly lovely Frazer Island.
The hostel is great, really lively, although everyone here seems to be British, which I've nothing against, but a bit of multiculturalism never goes amiss. Anyway will be here for a fortnight at least, taking me past Christmas and New Year (and a certain birthday we'll try to forget about as the average age here seems to be between 18 and 22), to January 2. Then I've got to decide what to do. I think I'll take a three day outward bound type thing - advertised here - before moving to central Sydney and doing some more working before, hopefully, a few days blagging in Queensland and the supposedly lovely Frazer Island.
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Leaving Japan, leaving Asia
I'm about to leave Japan, tomorrow morning I'll be in Sydney. It's only just hit me what a culture change this is going to be.
I'm sad to leave Japan, I absoutely love it and could see myself returning. It's a crazy place, in some ways its the most different to the UK, when you'd expect it to be the most western. Looking back, it's been a very diverse few weeks. I've gone from Bladerunner inner city, urban sprawls in Tokyo and Osaka to the peace and beauty of Kyoto and Hiroshima. I've been ambushed by deer in Miyajima and when walking in the mountains near Kobe came face to face with a wild boar, which was unnerving, I scarpered before it had the chance to gore.
The Japanese are so funny, relentlessly polite and helpful. If you are lost they insist on walking to where you're trying to get, rather than just pointing in the general direction, and if they don't know they ask someone else who also walks with you. At one point, in Osaka, there was four of us wondering around trying to find a bus stop. The Manga comic book culture is also strange. They're not just for kids, everyone reads them, to be honest I think they are more prevalent than normal books. Anyway, I've got to leave in about 40 minutes so next time we speak I'll be in the Southern Hemisphere!
I'm sad to leave Japan, I absoutely love it and could see myself returning. It's a crazy place, in some ways its the most different to the UK, when you'd expect it to be the most western. Looking back, it's been a very diverse few weeks. I've gone from Bladerunner inner city, urban sprawls in Tokyo and Osaka to the peace and beauty of Kyoto and Hiroshima. I've been ambushed by deer in Miyajima and when walking in the mountains near Kobe came face to face with a wild boar, which was unnerving, I scarpered before it had the chance to gore.
The Japanese are so funny, relentlessly polite and helpful. If you are lost they insist on walking to where you're trying to get, rather than just pointing in the general direction, and if they don't know they ask someone else who also walks with you. At one point, in Osaka, there was four of us wondering around trying to find a bus stop. The Manga comic book culture is also strange. They're not just for kids, everyone reads them, to be honest I think they are more prevalent than normal books. Anyway, I've got to leave in about 40 minutes so next time we speak I'll be in the Southern Hemisphere!
Sunday, 14 December 2008
Hiroshima and Miyajima
Back in Tokyo after four glorious days in Hiroshima - one of which was spent on the nearby island of Miyajima.
Hiroshima is, of course, the site of the world's first atomic bomb, which killed about 140,000 by the end of 1945 - that figure has risen to more than 200,000 due to radiation-related diseases. More than a thousand people continue to die every year.
Hiroshima, remarkably, soon rose from the ashes to become one of Japan's most attractive and tranquil cities. It has also positioned itself at the forefront of the campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons, writing letters of opposition to every country that tests warheads.
The main tourist attraction is a museum dedicated to the dropping of the bomb and the death and devastation it caused. It very successfully enables you to picture what it would have been like to have been in the city, going about your business, that morning. One exhibit was a young child's tricycle and helmet, the metal of both scorched, melted and disfigured. A lot of people I spoke to said they were in tears leaving. It is certainly a depressing experience. If you are interested, according to the museum, the US and Russia still have far and away the most nuclear warheads - just over 5000 each, with Russia about 40 ahead of the US. The UK has about 130, the same as China, while surprisingly the French have more than twice as much. It puts fears that Iran might soon have one, into some kind of perspective.
There is also a memorial hall with the testimonies of survivors. Apparently, immediately after the bomb had gone off, thousands of victims were lying almost dead on the streets begging for drinking water. The people who gave testimonies said they refused them because they had been told they would die if they drank water. However, these bomb victims were so badly injured they were dead by morning anyway, and it was a huge regret for many people that they chose not to ease the suffering of their final hours. Because of this many of the countless statues and memorials in Hiroshima Peace Park are water features.
On a brighter note, Miyajima is stunning. It is a mountainous island, full of temples and deer, with an iconic floating shrine just of the coast. Deer are sacred animals in Japan, and Nara and Miyajima is full of them. However, they are generally bigger and more aggressive in Miyajima than Nara, and I saw several people being aggressively pursued and occassionally chased down the street. I was almost ambushed by the critters at one point, but managed to sidestep the trap and lived to tell the tale. The hostel I stayed at in Hiroshima was also one of the best of the trip, with lots of really fun people from all over the world.
Hiroshima is, of course, the site of the world's first atomic bomb, which killed about 140,000 by the end of 1945 - that figure has risen to more than 200,000 due to radiation-related diseases. More than a thousand people continue to die every year.
Hiroshima, remarkably, soon rose from the ashes to become one of Japan's most attractive and tranquil cities. It has also positioned itself at the forefront of the campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons, writing letters of opposition to every country that tests warheads.
The main tourist attraction is a museum dedicated to the dropping of the bomb and the death and devastation it caused. It very successfully enables you to picture what it would have been like to have been in the city, going about your business, that morning. One exhibit was a young child's tricycle and helmet, the metal of both scorched, melted and disfigured. A lot of people I spoke to said they were in tears leaving. It is certainly a depressing experience. If you are interested, according to the museum, the US and Russia still have far and away the most nuclear warheads - just over 5000 each, with Russia about 40 ahead of the US. The UK has about 130, the same as China, while surprisingly the French have more than twice as much. It puts fears that Iran might soon have one, into some kind of perspective.
There is also a memorial hall with the testimonies of survivors. Apparently, immediately after the bomb had gone off, thousands of victims were lying almost dead on the streets begging for drinking water. The people who gave testimonies said they refused them because they had been told they would die if they drank water. However, these bomb victims were so badly injured they were dead by morning anyway, and it was a huge regret for many people that they chose not to ease the suffering of their final hours. Because of this many of the countless statues and memorials in Hiroshima Peace Park are water features.
On a brighter note, Miyajima is stunning. It is a mountainous island, full of temples and deer, with an iconic floating shrine just of the coast. Deer are sacred animals in Japan, and Nara and Miyajima is full of them. However, they are generally bigger and more aggressive in Miyajima than Nara, and I saw several people being aggressively pursued and occassionally chased down the street. I was almost ambushed by the critters at one point, but managed to sidestep the trap and lived to tell the tale. The hostel I stayed at in Hiroshima was also one of the best of the trip, with lots of really fun people from all over the world.
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
It's OK, I'm back
I'm not dead - although I appreciate your concern - I'm just in Kobe. It's similar, but not quite the same. This is my fourth leg of a tour of the Kyoto region of Japan, which started, oddly enough, with Kyoto. Kyoto is a wicked city. It gets a bit of stick in the Lonely Planet but it's got a decent urban sprawl. However, the reason people go is the temples. If you wonder a little bit to the east it's really old style Japan, with shrines, temples, pagodas, little wooden teahouses and cobbled streets. It gets a bit Temple Disney at times with hoardes of Japanese tourists, but generally its peaceful and beautiful. It also has the Shoegun's old gaf, which is really interesting as the former corridors of power in Japan. The floorboards were intentionally creaky so they could hear would-be assassins creeping in.
Nara was the capital of Japan before Kyoto, for a century around the 700s, but is not as good. It also has more temples than you can shake a stick at but the only real one of note is a beautiful old wooden building. It is the largest wooden building in the world and wouldn't last five minutes in the UK, scallywags would be queuing up to the torch the thing. Thankfully it's in Japan.
Osaka is like a girl (or guy, sorry, don't mean to be sexist) who knows she's not that good looking but also knows how to have a good time. I was out all night last night with a friend I met in China then got the train to Kobe this morning. Not slept yet so off for some kip. Really sorry about the pics situation, they're all on my camera, wish I could load them.
Nara was the capital of Japan before Kyoto, for a century around the 700s, but is not as good. It also has more temples than you can shake a stick at but the only real one of note is a beautiful old wooden building. It is the largest wooden building in the world and wouldn't last five minutes in the UK, scallywags would be queuing up to the torch the thing. Thankfully it's in Japan.
Osaka is like a girl (or guy, sorry, don't mean to be sexist) who knows she's not that good looking but also knows how to have a good time. I was out all night last night with a friend I met in China then got the train to Kobe this morning. Not slept yet so off for some kip. Really sorry about the pics situation, they're all on my camera, wish I could load them.
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