Long awaited update

Well our time in Thailand is up. We've done a hell of a lot.

Haggled in the markets, wandered in Chinatown, trekked through the jungle, been the the BEST CINEMA EVER, gone extreme rainforest caving, canoed across the most beautiful lake, ridden elephants in the jungle, played with the best puppy, swum in best sea cove, accidentally stayed in a 4* hotel, bamboo rafted in the mountain rivers, met the hill tribes, got some very dodgy tummys, stayed in a treehouse in the middle of a rainforest and more.

But now I think I've just had the greatest adventure of all:

I got a haircut.

It was all going so well, I had unruly hair and they had cheap prices. So I had it washed first by a gangly Thai boy, who shampooed twice, then conditioned then gave a massage. Not too shabby. Then I had to pick a style out of a book. So I chose a nice conservative western-style cut. Effectively a short back and sides. However, the man (who had one massive dreadlock down his back as a hairstyle, which probably should have alerted me to his sub-par hair cutting credentials) decided that I should look like a member of a Japanese boy band. And elf.

I was tempted halfway through to throw in the towel and get it cut all short but he was having such fun I let him get on with it. He sculpted and preened and blowdryed countless times and used amazing space age hair gels that form a web in your hands. And I didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't what I had in mind...

He looked at it like it was his masterpiece. Like he'd just made a scale replica of the great wall out of matchsticks.

Well, it was an experience, and I fit right in here now. Shame that we leave tomorrow morning cos in Oz I'll just look like a J-pop nerd. At least it was cheap, I'll get the scissors and gel out, I'm sure I can salvage something.

Isn't traveling fun?

Varasnasi

From Agra we got a 12 hour sleeper train to Varanasi. Possibly our favourite place overall. It can't really be put into words but it was so Indian. There was no Western influence over Varanasi at all. And it was like we dropped right in and got to experience it to. From Sunset/sunrise boat trips up and down the Ganges, marveling at the Ghats, watching the ritual cremations, to walking the crowded streets. It was oh so Indian. And we loved it for it. One day we took a small excursion to Sarnath and stood on the spot where Bhudda actually gave his frist sermon. How amazing is that?! People complained that there wasn't enough to do in Varanasi because there were no obvious malls or districts or sights to see. But we found plenty. Oh and we bought some Henna. For about 10p. And got the receptionists to apply it whilst they loveling fed us cake and samosas. YUM. I got a double star on my wrist, a lightning bolt down my ankle and the four card suits across my Knuckles. Its only just fading now. I look like a grizzled biker.

Eventually we had to sadly leave Varanasi, home of the best Naan (dolphin restaurant) and the best pancakes (bread of life) and leave back for good old Delhi. Familiarity.

Agra

Agra as a city feels very empty. It relies on the fact that it houses the Taj. Which is fine by me because the Taj is absolutly immense. We got up at 4am to get to the Taj at sunrise and guess what. WE WERE THE FIRST ONES IN! For about 5 minutes we had the entire Taj Mahal to ourselves! It was so surreal!! Eerie and absolutley stunning! And then as the sun rose crowds formed and we left about 8am. It was an amazing experience! First ones in! And also the experience of Sophie attempting to put her shoe covers on whilst standing up...also immense.

Then we went to the red fort which was also eerily empty. And therefore amazing. Had our pictures taken with many Indian families, who regard us as a beautiful freakshow and often ask for photos with us. And fed some chipmonks. It was a great morning!

Other than that, Agra has very little to offer. Well there was a Pizza hut and a Costa next to our hotel where we spent a LOT of time, but other than that. Oh and a McDonalds. But other than that. And a shoppng mall.

Jaipur

After the amazing Sunrise hike where we all did more exercise than we were prepared to do (and got surrounded by a gang of baby monkeys at the summit) we spent a few days exploring Pushkar. After that, it was a journey through Snake mountain to Jaipur, the Amber city, the capital of Rajasthan!

The city was super touristy. A bit rubbish really. The sights were overpriced and full of European OAPs. The highlights had to be watching the AMAZING DOA movie in the room and randomly bumping in to Janey Farrington in the Bazars. We went with her to some guys jewelry shop far away from anything and drank Chai. Then when we had to leave we got trapped by monkeys on a balcony and they hissed and nearly attacked us. Scary times! Oh and the amazing 8x10 Tasveer which we watched at a local cinema. And begun our love affair with the worst actor our eyes had ever seen, Akshay Kumar.

So if you're an OAP or simply looking to haggle for some soft furnishings, Jaipur is definately the place to be.

Pushkar

This morning we left Udaipur for another 8 hour bus journey. Though this time we had air conditioning! But I would hardly call it that. It was like an asthmatic person blowing on your arm every few minutes. And sadly the horn did not sound like Annie Lennox this time. Shame.

We are getting pretty good at these bus journeys now. I have read 3 books in a few days. Personal best I think. And Soph has discovered books once again (after her iPod ran out of battery) and is thrilled she still remembers how to read. And we had some good snacks this time: 'loaded baked potato Pringles', 'nice time biscuits' and of course, 'Thums up cola: taste the thunder.'

We finally got to Pushkar about 5pm and I think it is my favourite place so far. We are in the mountains and it's a town of holy pilgramage so there are plenty of nice temples. And no meat or alcohol. And of course no eggs either, for these are unholy, as is public embrace. Though milk and other dairy is fine. And a surprising amount of people keep attempting to sell us 'special hippy smokes'. But I like the contradictions.

We went for a meal by the famous lake but is is a puddle right now. But the resaturant was good. Me and Sophie shared cheese curry. Which tasted suspiciously fishy. But the naan breads were absolutely amazing. And they sold Mirinda, our new idol. It's like fanta bu more orange and it's got us through some tough times so far. I hope they sell Mirinda in Thailand otherwise it'll be heart-wrenching to have to say goodbye.

These posts are so skinny, when I have time I may consult my Ganesh journal and add more to them. But not now. Sleep beckons :)

Udaipur

After Jodhpur it was another 8 hour local bus ride to Udaipur. I thought we had arrived when the driver crushed my dreams and told me we were halfway. We had only stopped for drinks and the toilet.

We also spent a long time driving up through the mountains in first gear in a bus with thousands of people crammed on. This took as long as you'd imagine if not longer.

The hotel was less good in Udaipur. Mine and Shags room was filthy so we spent the whole time in Soph and Becca's room. We had a great meal at a beautiful lakeside restaurant in the evening where there were massive bats flying overhead. I mean seriously big. I've seen bats, I've been to a few zoo's in my time but these were bigger than batman himself. It was still eautiful there though. We had a view over to where they filmed Octopussy.

Coincidentally a random Indian man called Sophie Octopussy. It may have been due to her massive hair. We found it a bit funny. In fact we've had a few names in Udaipur. A beggar woman called Becca a witch because she refused to give her loads of money. A random kid called Shahreena a bastard in Hindi. Out of a car window. And some local kids called me the dancing guy cos I randomly got pulled into wedding procession in he street so naturally me and Becca joined in and danced our troubles away, it was great. Indian people seem to love it when Westerners do stuff!

In Udiapur most of the lakes were pretty dry in this season, which was a bit of a letdown for the 'city of lakes'. But we saw the beautiful city palace museum. And had some great fun learning to haggle and barter in the markets. I got a cool Ganesh T-shirt for 100 Rupees, down from nearly 200. I had to pretend to walk away quite a bit but it was worth it! A T-shirt for about a quid!

Jodhpur

Wow. A lot has happened since the last post amd it'd be great to share it all with you but sadly I have to go on a sunrise trek to the Brama temple in 6 hours and in this time I have yet to wash my clothes, wash myself, get packed and hopefully sleep a little.

So I'll do a few brief posts, think of it as the highlights. (And if you're really interested in everything, I've been keeping a journal with Ganesh on the front. I haggled long and hard for it and I love it. It should make a pretty good read if you ever wanna loan it out)

So after Jaisalmer, we left the HOT HOT desert for Jodhpur, the blue city. Sounds a bit cooler. This is not the case. The 8 hour local bus was an experience. MUCH better than the sleeper train but I can't help but think if we hadn't stopped to pick up pretty much the whole population of Rajasthan along the way, we could have made the journey in 10 minutes.

The hotel was beautiful, like a tropical resort. WITH A POOL! Watched some good TV, pirates of the Carribean and Tom and Jerry (in Hindi of course). We visited the fort which was beautiful and the Sadar Bazar which was...hectic. And of course, sweated a lot along the way. Our tummies were recovering a little by then and we were really starting to get into this whole India malarky.

Thar Desert

Last night we had a camel trek in the Thar desert. Cor blimy the desert is hot! Painful trying to sleep at night but came away with some amazing memories. I was shocked to wake up and find that everyone hadn't drowned in my torrents of sweat...

Also, had to chase a wild dog intent on stealing toiletries out of Soph's tent in the middle of the night. Random.

Sam and the temple of doom

We arrived in Jaisalmer about 12pm, the hottest time. After everyone got off the sleeper train and finished throwing up etc, we all bundled into jeeps. 7 people, 2 backpacks and 6 rucksacks in the back of each jeep :S
It was so much like Indianna Jones as we sped up into the fort at the top of Jaisalmer. We had to rev VERY much to get up the slight incline, almost didn't make it a few times. Very amusing. But in 45 degree desert sun, laughing is the equivalent of a triathalon so we were far too tired to do anything. Jaisalmer is gorgeous. Its actually like the city of gold or el dorado or something. Fantastic buildings and tiny cow-littered streets with a temple round every corner. We all walked down to the market in the evening for a meal, which was a lot of effort but pretty awesome. Since Sophie and Becca had no AC in their DEATH PRSION OF A ROOM, they slept in ours and I went on the floor, which was nice and cool :)

In the morning, Becca and Shags weren't feeling great so me and Soph popped down to the market for some supplies. Water and toiletries and stuff. It was so hot we had to get a tuktuk back to the fort :)

On the way back we picked up some funky new threads for the desert, had to haggle quite a while to get ripped off :S

I hate sleeper trains

20 hours.
45 degrees.
Bad tummy.
It was nicht so good. And since we were traveling into the heart of the Thar desert. It got even hotter on the way! Thats something I'll try avoid in the future...

Old Delhi

Today we went around old Delhi. We got the metro in the morning, which was all new and shiny and AIR CONDITIONED and then a rickshaw through the markets of Chowdni Chow. I felt sorry for our tiny rickshaw man who seemed to run out of steam about halfway through the journey, I wanted to get out and push...

We saw the huge Friday Mosque and went all around the Sikh Gurdwara. we all had to wear headscarves and looked like eastern European pirates. We helped them make communal chappattis and watched them worship.

Now we're off to Jaisalmer. A 20hr sleeper train journey... Wish me luck :S

Jai ho! It's off to work we go!

We're in Delhi, safe and sound, and after a whole 24 hours, we can proudly claim our bowels are still healthy!

We arrived about 11pm last night and had to get a late night taxi from the airport. We just about managed to fit in one of the old battered cabs (though decorated beautifully inside with incense, flowers and small flashing statuettes of Vishnu). Sadly the cabby spoke very little Enlgish and took us to a scary slum neighbourhood with rabid dogs and random bonfires in the street. Though we managed to explain that our hotel wasn't actually the half demolished, broken down building he had taken us to and we set off again. I enjoyed the little excursion to see some real India but Soph thought she was gonna die in that cab/neighbourhood. It turned out our hotel was in a nearby neighbourhood, slightly less run down :)

Then we had fun times setting up our mossie nets and trying to get some shuteye since it was about 3am local time. This morning we rose bright and early about 9am and slathered ourselves in suncream and mossie repellent and moisturisers and sanitizers and antibacterial gels and about half an hour later we were ready to get our first taste of India. We just popped round the block for a quick walk but we had to beat the touts and beggars away the whole way. Bit of a culture shock. We were gonna get some breakfast but couldn't really face food so just got some questioable juice. We gave up drinking it about halfway and decided to have a little siesta back at the hotel.

We woke up later about 3pm and made a plan of action. We needed an ATM because Sophie and Shags still had no money, then a supermarket to get some reliable water, then maybe see some sights. We got a taxi (through the hotel) and he took us to the ATM. Then drove us around some sights, parking and giving us about 30 minutes to look round each place. We saw the temple of Hanuman, the main Gurdwara, the India gate and many of the government and presidential buildings, it was fantastic! Though we were really craving water. We didn't wanna buy from street vendors because they sell dirty death water in resealed bottles and the driver didn't understand when we asked for safe water...Well we managed to blag some complimentary mineral water in a shop which we drank whilst we edged towards the door and made a great escape.

When we got back, we realised we hadn't eaten in 24 hours so we went for some dinner at "spicy". Sophie and Becca were a tad shocked to find their curries quite spicy...
We had a banquet for the equivalent of about 3 quid. bargain. Then we bought a box of 12 huge bottles of water and went back to the room for the evening.

We've had plenty of lentils and onion so are expecting a turbulent night. Ironically, the toilet in mine and Shaggie's room had a seal over it which said "sanitized for your benefit" but inside the toilet was a big old poo. Which will not flush away. Super irony. So we use Soph and Becca's toilet because I swear the poo in our one is watching us :(

Tomorrow evening we meet our tour people and the day after we'll be setting of to Jaisalmer and the Thar desert. Can't wait :D

Thunderbirds are go!

How quickly 6 months has come around! And now it's finally time for our little excursion round the world :)

And with less than an hour til I leave for the airport, I still haven't finished packing. Because PACKING IS SO BORING!

But it's ok because backpacking is super exciting!



Right well, it's about time I pop round the world now . Brb.

Belated pics from Japan

Here we are, the long awaited photos from Japan. I have finally found a good photo hosting website! Some are nice, some are...poignant...but all of them are a bit Japanese.

Enjoy:

Can't seem to shake the jetlag...

I thought jetlag? Pffft.

But it turns out jetlag is a more formidable foe than I'd prepared for. I'm trying to live in British time now, but my body is still running on Japanese time. Result = about five hours sleep in nearly three days now.

The Tokyo airport was nice. The most lovely, helpful and smiley customs and passport officials I've ever encountered. But I've come to expect nothing less from the Japanese. We even got 4000 Yen in food and drink coupons for no reason. Score. So we went to have a breakfast BANQUET. I ordered a burger explosion...

I feel I should explain. We have been encountering burger explosions in most Japanese restaurants all week. I vowed that I would order one at some point but I'd been building up the courage all week. They're not for the faint hearted. It's basically a mound of fried rice with vegetables and chunks of mystery-meat, then egg splattered all over the mound and slightly cooked (so it actually looks like a mound of egg til you cut into it.) Then a beefburger on top of the eggy rice mountain, then brown (curry?) sauce chucked all over it. It's undeniably an explosion of foods that should never be mixed.

Shahreena had pancakes and fried shrimp and we also had potato wedges with awful chicken. All that and it only came to 3000 Yen!!! So we spent the other coupon on a crepe and drinks. A free breakfast banquet! Thanks Japan!

So were were chilling, thinking we were really good at airports and it got to the time we were supposed to be at the gate and we realised we hadn't even gone through customs and passport control yet! So we dashed only to find our flight had been postponed for half an hour. But all in all, a good airport experience, which is great seeing as we'll be spending a lot of time in airports over the next few months.

It's nice to be back in my familiar bed and have the option to eat fruit whenever I want, but I'm having Japan withdrawal. I miss photobooths, obviously. And the noise of Japanese shop assistants shouting words to no one in particular. And the loveliness of everyone you meet.

But still, it was short, but ever so sweet. Next time: Kyoto!

How to fit in in Tokyo.

We observed many things in Japan over the last week. If you wanted to merge into Tokyo society like a cultural chameleon, here would be my top 3 tips:

1) If you don't know what the hell it is, you're probably supposed to eat it.

2) If you're aged between 14 and 21 and female, you're expected to dress like a slightly schizophrenic french maid at the weekends. If you're aged between 14 and 21 and male, you're expected to do your best to look gender-ly ambiguous at all times.

3) If you don't know what someone is saying to you, shout "Hai!" and do a little curtsy. It always works.

Cosplayer deficiency

There were flocks of people on the train to Harajuku today so we thought they must all be going to see the cosplay-zoku as we were. Following the crowds out of the station we ended up at a inter-school volleyball tournament....

When we got to the Jingu Bashi (the bridge where the Harajuku girls and cosplayers congregate) we were slightly disappointed. It was empty...
So we decided we were too early and we should go kill time and come back later. So we went down Takeshita Street, basically a Japanese (and bigger) version of Camden town.　One of the first shops we came across had some pictures of photobooths on some stairs leading to a basement level. Expecting an arcade we went downstairs to find heaven. A whole room full of different photobooths. A photobooth shop. After nearly falling to our knees in joy, we took some photos. Glittery ones!

Then we went shopping in the various stalls and small shops. Picked up some stuff (which was no mean feat considering Japanese teenagers shop like their lives depend on it) and decided to go back to the Jingu Bashi hoping the cosplayers were out. Sadly they were not. Well one was...

He was a lanky, possibly German boy standing on his own wearing really baggy clothes. His costume was a pair of furry ears. He looked quite lonely and he had an...endearing quality. But he was still a massive disappointment to us. He was hardly the crowds of Cosplay-zoku we were promised!

We decided we might still be too early so we decided to go shopping down the Omotesandō where all the designer shops are. Well window shopping. But we found Topman, Zara and the biggest H&M ever. But big-shop clothes are a bit rubbish here. Really plain. SO we went back to the Jingu Bashi and STILL NO COSPLAYERS! Well, lonely ear boy still hadn't moved. So we pitied him for a few minutes and then decided to satisfy our manga and book craving. We followed the guide to a shopping centre which supposedly sold books and guess what we found? Loads and loads of Harajuku girls!!! Sweet and Gothic lolita!! All dressed in huge victorian style, lolita dresses, carying parasols and wearing tiny top hats. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside the shopping mall but at least we found them! Yatah!

The bookshop had no english books so we hopped on the subway to Shibuya to a famous book manga chain called Madarake. Surprisingly, we found it rather easily using our guide book map! It was huge but stocked no english books manga! So we followed the guide's advice and got the metro to Shinjuku to an even bigger book shop. With a whole english foreign books floor! And (shockingly) we found it rather easily once again, just following the maps! We went a bit mental and spent about 6,000 Yen each on books. I bought a whole 6 book Manga series...

We were so knackered we decided we couldn't be bothered to go up Tokyo tower and decided just to go back to the hotel. It was a bit misty and we wouldn't be able to see much from it anyway. And we gotta save something for the next time we come ;)

A series of unfortunate events.

We got up bright and early to get into downtown Tokyo and be ready outside the Sony building for 11am when it opened.

Coming out of the tube stop we attempted to read a map. Well, it was either left or right. We chose to go left, of course the correct direction was right. So we trundled along through glittery Ginza for a while, watching the posh women wearing full Kimono's to go shopping at Gucci and YSL. We walked for quite a while and ended up in the fish district...

We realised that of course we had read the map wrong and set off in the right direction. After walking for what seemed like too long, we pondered over a street map for quite a while before realizing we were standing next to the Sony building LOL.

We waited outside for 10 minutes or so waiting for it to open so we could rush in and try all the exclusive playstation stuff. There was a wedding going on inside while we were waiting. Strange place for a wedding we thought. Well, nothing says 'I love you' like state of the art electrical goods.

We got inside and couldn't find the interactive playstation stuff so Shahreena asked at the information desk. Turns out the playstation display isn't open at the weekends!!! AND IS IN ANOTHER FLIPPING BUILDING! IN ANOTHER FLIPPING DISTRICT!!!

So we went to starbucks to lament. (Starbucks is our god while we're here, cos whilest I hate the corporate-ness of it in England, the fact that coffee can banish Jetlag and sleepless nights in one lovely cup is priceless.) We thought, all is not lost, we are pretty near the godzilla statue, that'll be cool and cheer us up from our Sony tragedy. How wrong we were.

We thought we had finally found the "Godzilla statue". Well, it wasn't exactly as we had expected. It was a 10ft metal cone. With some spikes coming out of it. And a clock on the top. Which said "tard" across it. We were most disappointed.
(In reality, it turns out that that wasn't the godzilla statue. We were a few blocks away from the real godzilla statue, which is a puny 3ft replica of Godzilla. I dunno which statue would have been more disappointing...)

We were now lamenting both Sony and Godzilla and knew only one thing could cheer us up. Photobooths! We found some in a nearby arcade thank god. Then played Tekken 6 for a while. It's so good.

From there, we decided we needed to have some thrills and so we set off to a themepark in north Tokyo. Our mapreading skills told us there were two equidistant metro-stops near it. We chose the one which in reality is about 2 miles away. And I really needed the loo. Luckily on the way we came across a shopping mall (which are simply everywhere) and we both ran to the toilet. We decided to get some lunch in a japanese Italian place. Shahreena got Cheezu pizza which tasted like infection apparently. Oh dear.

We we finally got to the themepark and on the way in came across some photobooths. We couldn't resist. An there was also a Shonen Jump SHOP! WOW!!

The themepark was amazing. We went on the flume first. This is where we fell in love. With a group of big American kids and their mum. Who was called momma. We had some serious laughing fits eavesdropping on their pearls of wisdom. You see we learnt that, "if you have it, you should give it. Cos then you'll get it and when you get it, you'll have it..."

We stayed there til it was dark. Mega fun times!

Now we're off to Harajuku to play papparazzi to the cosplay-zoku. Don't wait up!

Shahreena's Super Powers

Well it appears that the goddess Kannon is the real deal cos she's granted Shahreena those superpowers she wished for.

Turns out she has the power to repel Japanese people...

When she stands next to them, often they move away or put masks on LOL. One woman even put a mask on her child, then herself,　then grabbed her child and legged it!

And at the Benzaiten shrine, Shaggie had an empty can, and there were no bins. Then we saw people giving cans to an old lady who ran a shop there and she took them with a smile and put them in a bin she had in her shop. When it finally came round to Shahreena's turn the woman was like "NO TRASH!!!" and wouldn't take it. It was too funny.

So be careful what you wish for, kids.

Day by the sea

We decided to get out of the hustle and bustle and travelled on the train to the lovely coastal town of Kamakura.

Shahreena was in charge of the train journey. Bad times;

The station next to our hotel is Shinagawa. She had us travel to the huge Tokyo main station, and then we get lost around there for about half an hour. Then we got the train overland from Tokyo main station to Kamakura. About 40 minutes into the journey, the train stopped at Shinagawa...damn.

But Kamakura was loveeeely. We first went to the Hasedera shrine. The shrine of Kannon, goddess of Mercy. It was beautiful and very Zen. The main attraction is a 30ft statue of Kannon. Which was pretty impressive! So impressive it inspired me to buy and light a prayer candle. I bought one which will "bring a wonderful person to me". We also bought a tiny statue of statue of a minor goddess which you write your name on the back and leave in this creepy cave. She will bring us "dedication". Then outside we each bought a prayer board which you write your wishes on and hang on a huge wall. I wished for "success and happiness for me and my loved ones" whilst Shahreena wished for "super powers"...

So I think I got it covered, love life, dedication, success and happiness. If this Kannon is the real deal and she answers my prayers, life is about to get pretty sweet!

Then we went to the shrine of the Daibutsu which is basically a 43ft statue of the great Buddha. Which was extremely impressive. We even paid ￥20 to have a little peek inside it.

We wanted to end with the Zeniarai Benten Shrine. Following the map (which as we've established, doesn't bode well for us) we set off. We came up to some steps, then more steps, then some more. Soon we had been climbing a MOUNTAIN'S worth of steps and the build up of lactic acid in our legs was near fatal level. When we reached the top, a man told us we had gone the wrong way and we needed to turn back and go up some MORE STEPS. So we had a breather, then did as he directed. The route he pointed us along, turned out to be a flipping two hour jungle trek! It was like actually like hardcore mountaineering. When we finally got back to civilisation, it turned out we were just down the road from the Daibutsu. OH DEAR.

Anyway, the Zeniarai Benten Shrine was very picturesque. There's a story that Minamoto no Yoritomo recieved divine intervention to build a shrine there on the holy waters. So people still flock there to wash their money in the magic waters. I washed some coins with which we would buy some more photos at a photo booth later...

After Kamakura, we got back to the hotel pooped and decided to stay in and go to the hotel cinema. We watched 7 pounds and it was brilliant but pretty sad. We had to go back to the room and read some Manga to cheer up before bed...

An undersirable side effect of being in Tokyo is the development of "Japanese tourettes". I find myself unwillingly shouting things, such as the names of tube stations and the word for "thanks very much".

IDATAKIMASU!

GOZAI MASU!

MEGUROOOOO!

Serious Photo-booth Obsession

We have just used one of those amazing Japanese photobooths, for what must be the seventh or eighth time this trip...

They seem to airbrush your photo's in the 20 seconds they take to print!

We keep justifying it to ourselves. That we'll have use for reams and reams of stickers when we get back to England, we can put them in scrap books and give them out as gifts....

But I'm starting to fear our usage of these booths may be bordering on irrational now...

:S

Central Tokyo

Today we decided to finally venture to downtown Tokyo. We had plenty planned but our tremendous map-reading skills threw a spanner in the works. When we finally made our way to the East Imperial Gardens, we couldn't be bothered to sight see around central Tokyo anymore so we hopped on the tube to Ueno to do a spot of shopping. In the station we happened across a Japanese Hard Rock Cafe and of course we had to go in. So we ate a burger, sitting under Madonna's bra and Geri Halliwell's swimming costume.

In Ueno we were stopped by a guy who thought he could speak good English but we couldn't understand a word. He seemed to be trying to get our money for something because being tourists, we　must be rich and looking to throw away our money. We gave him an excuse and smiled and when he looked away we legged it.

Carrying Shahreena's massive digital SLR camera around all day, every day has given us bruises, so I bought a cheap shoulder bag (to put the camera in) and customised it with Hard Rock badges and now it looks designer. Win!

We're gonna lounge around the hotel complex tonight since we've got a longish train journey to Kamakura tomorrow. Maybe we'll do some bowling or go to the aquarium. (Yes, the hotel has a cinema, bowling alley and aquarium amongst other things.)

Oh and we finally found a place selling English manga today so we're pretty happy with life.

GHIBLI MUSEUM!

Day three in Tokyo.

We grabbed a quick bite for breakfast from a Maccy D's near our hotel on the way to the train station. MISTAKE! I got a shaka shaka chicken. Which is a chicken fillet (yum) with a packet of mysterious powder. I assumed the powder was to go on the chicken, which is was, unfortunately it was the most pungent spicy garlic powder you can imagine. It made me feel ill and my fingers smelt like a sewer most of the day! What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger (and stinkier) I suppose :(

We were especially excited on our way to Mitaka because we were going to the Studio Ghibli museum! (the best maker of anime films) We aimed to get there for 10am when it opened like excited kiddies, but being severely jetlagged teenagers, we slept through our alarm and got to the museum at 12:30...

Even though the policy is; you have to buy your tickets 3 months in advance to help the museum stay "crowd free" it was most definately not "crowd free"...but it was amazing. Very amazing. And we got actual bits of film from the original movies in our tickets! Yatah!

We then tried to get to Inokashira Park in Kichi-Joji, supposedly nearby and very picturesque. If this trip has taught us anything, it's that we have serious map-reading issues. My duke of Edinburgh Bronze awarding is proving to be WORTHLESS! So we stopped to ask some Japanese women, forgetting that most Japanese people speak excellent english. We gestured and mimed that we wanted to get to Inokashira park and she politely gave us directions, told us about nearby interesting sightseeing opportunities and offered to show us around. Embarassing.

The park and Kichi-Joji proved to be as lovely as expected. We walked around the shrines, then rode a bright pink, pimped out pedal boat around the small lake for a while. It was lush :)

In the evening we went over to Shinjuku, the home to Tokyo's thriving red-light district as well as many famous shopping centres. We were searching fervently for one of the best Ramen shops in Japan following the guidebook. As you already know, our mapreading skills leave a lot to be desired, needless to say, we never found the Ramen shop. We read the map logically, placing ourselves using landmarks and bearings and if there was any sense to it, we would have ended up exactly where we wanted to be. Except we seem to end up anywhere but where we want to be. This leads us to believe it's the maps we're using that are wrong. All of them...

We ended up eating at a little empty Chinese restaurant, down some stairs in a side street. The man who ran it looked a bit like a Yakuza. I ordered spicy pork noodles except instead of chunks of pork in my bowl, there were chunks of tofu with slime all over them and they tasted like fish. Shahreena got chicken noodles which was noodles in water with near-raw chicken strips on top. It was accompanied with fried rice that tasted like cake and brown water that tasted like rice whiskey...
The portions were a bit massive and the noodles might as well have been served in a bucket instead of a bowl. So we forced down as much as we could then paid and legged it...

We got back to the hotel about 8pm and decided to watch a movie in the hotel cinema. We watched the Dragonball movie. If you were thinking to, don't. They haven't invented a word to describe it's cheesiness.

Well, we're off to the central disctict to see a statue of Godzilla now. Bye!

Sensory Overload

So now that we're absolute pro's at riding the subway, Tokyo is our Oyster. Yesterday we started by travelling to North Tokyo to the Ueno district. We had a nice stroll in the big park, looked at some shrines, sadly the cherry blossoms aren't fully out yet.

Then, after we'd had enough culture, we went to the ZOO! It was amazing becuase you could see all the animals. Mostly because their enclosures were very small. So we marvelled at the animals whilst secretly wishing we could set them all free.

Then we travelled (on the subway, easily) to Akihabara, electric town! It's a distict famed for electrical goods, manga and computer games. There were a lot of flashing lights and neon signs, I nearly developed epilepsy walking down the street. We went to a few arcades and mixed amongst all the teenage boys who flock here after school finishes. We played some Tekken 6 and then a shooting game based on RAMBO (oh yes) and got some photo's done in a high tech sticker booth, (which thankfully airbrushes the jetlag out of your pictures and makes you look amazing.)

After our senses were so overloaded we could barely function, we headed over to Odaiba to spend the evening. It's a man made island built from refuse (but not in a gross way) so it's kinda like the seaside. We were intending to wind down with a beach side stroll or something but we happened upon the SEGA JOYPOLIS!!! Tokyo's number 1 indoor themepark! (Recommeneded by both Leonardo DiCaprio and Freddie Pr. Junior! wow)

So we spent a few hours at the Joypolis, developing arthritis from the jerky rollercoasters and playing Virtual Reality zombie shooting games. We also went in the fortune forest which tells your future. It told us that Shahreena is a "weird man who creates awkward situations with her loudness"...so it was a pretty accurate machine.

On the way home we couldn't resist riding the Guiness World Record's Tallest Ferris wheel in the world (in 1999...)

Japan is cool beans!

KONICHIWA

So this is Tokyo huh?

We've officially made it to Japanese soils, how exciting! I'm in a Japanese internet cafe in Shibuya as I write this, an experience in itself. It looks rather dodgy from the outside, lot's of neon signs and a tiny door and stairwell to get in, but it's really nice in here. We're in a cubicle on the 5th floor, you sit on the floor on beanbags under neon lights to type, it looks like the set of a low budget sci fi movie. We each paid for an hour but Shahreena has decided instead to sneak into my cubicle and fall asleep on the floor. We're pretty jetlagged you see, only 3 hours sleep in nearly 3 days.

I've learnt plenty of life lessons on the way here, I am now a worldly wise man;

#1 Everyone from Helsinki is an Indie Rocker. And they all know each other.

#2 A 13 hour flight is severe punishment for your bum. It still aches now.

#3 Although our hotel is huge and very posh, there are too many Japanese business men and suspicious women dressed as Geisha's walking around. It is quite possibly a brothel.

#4 Japanese women are adorable and just seem so happy to be alive. Even the ones working at McDonald's will smile and bow at you when you order some chips.

#5 In Japan, if you have a cold it is common courtesy to wear a face mask to avoid spreading the germs. I keep worrying that there has been huge outbreak of an airborne disease.

#6 Every sign, no matter the importance or seriousness, must be accompanied by a cute cartoon animal of sorts. This seems to be law.


I'm tired now. It's about 11pm here so we had better be getting back to the train station for more misunderstanding fun! (Long story short, on the way here, we bought random tickets for the train by attacking a machine which supposedly spoke ''English", rode around on trains for about 40 minutes trying to work out where we were, only to end up at the original station we started at. Where a lovely woman at the information desk shouted "HAI!" at us and reimbursed us all our money so we could start from square one.)

SAYONARA!

Not long now!

As of today I am completely rabies-proof!

And I have 51,000 Yen!

And a BLUE suitcase, packed largely with new clothes!

You see, unemployment was almost too nice to begin with, but now I'm sooooo ready to go. There's only so much daytime TV I can watch. And with so much time on my hands I find myself doing a lot of (photoshop assisted) daydreaming...

Five more sleeps til Japan!

:D

Last Day!

I've finished at Cancer Research, next stop TOKYO!

Today was full of win!

At breaktime all the management team gathered in the Café to sit around and celebrate me!

My boss baked a beast of a cake for everyone. It put my hastily bought tub of 'Marks and Spencer flapjack bites' to shame :(


<---- It was a bit like this...
But a Victoria sponge...
And we didn't actually need a crane to cut it.


Then I was presented with a lovely card that all 15 or 20 of the management team had signed. And then with £30 of vouchers for Borders and other bookstores! It was so lovely. Then at lunch, the sun came out and I went for a walk to the concourse. It felt so much like spring!

Then mid-afternoon I was called to the breakout area where most of the scientists were waiting (with more beast cake) to present me MORE gifts! It was a actually a bit scary, opening presents in front of like 50 people. Then they all clapped me and I couldn't think of anything witty or even interesting to say so I did a weird smile and they seemed satisfied. And I got another card with like 50 good luck messages in it. And some mugs for uni, an alarm clock for traveling and an envelope with a wad of cash in it!! And the prize for the most unique present goes to Duncan Odom for a packet of decongestant tablets and a lesson in their anti-diuretic properties. Different and practical!

Sadly, on the way out, as I was handing back my ID badge to security (*sob*) I was asked if I had a locker key. Simple question. But I misheard and thought I was being asked if I'd like a cookie. They looked confused when I said ''yeah! I'd love a cookie thanks!''
Then I got all embarranoid and legged it.



To my friends; gutted. Cos I bet you won't get AMAZING leaving parties like this :)

To my ex-colleagues; I'm very grateful for it all!

In fact, this is how grateful I am.

Happy Days...I think

Feeling a tad confused because;

-On the one hand, FIVE MORE DAYS TO GO until I finish my job! It's been a good job, but after 7 months, I'm really really ready to be unemployed for a bit.

-On the other hand, I just stubbed my toe.

-But on the first hand again: I'm watching a top gear special on Japan and it's reminded me that I'LL BE THERE IN ABOUT TWO WEEKS! WIN!

-But on the other hand it's also reminded me that they eat a lot of seafood in Japan. And I have such hatred for seafood, it's frightening.

-BUT on the other hand, I'll be setting off round the world in almost exactly two months!!

-But on the sixth hand, I just ate a cardamom pod by accident. Bad times.

-But returning to the first hand, I've just been trying on my backpack ready for traveling and it's got me all excited!

-But on the other hand, I don't understand why the restoration of the p53 transcription factor leads to tumour regression, or indeed what this means.



So in conclusion, I have a sore toe, half chewed cardamom pod and poor knowledge of protein 53.

But can't complain because soon, I'll be here: