Kanazawa and Kobe

After five leisurely hours on the Shinkansen, I arrived at my first stop, Kanazawa.  I have always been drawn to this city for some reason, maybe because I’ve heard it being compared to Kyoto a number of times, and I love all that cobbled streets and teahouse district stuff.

Upon leaving the station, I immediately felt like I was in some kind of small but refined European city.  The buildings were glassy and sleek, cobalt and mahogany.  Sharply-dressed businessmen chatted in pairs as they walked down the street.  The thing that struck me most though, was how quiet it was.  There was hardly any traffic, and everyone went about their way in a composed manner.  I’d heard that Kanazawa was a reserved city, due to it being so hard to access from other parts of Japan until recently, which would also explain its traditional feel.

Not wanting to waste my first evening, I got a taxi to drop me off at Higashichaya district, where all the old teahouses are.  Unfortunately all the shops were shut, and it was extremely quiet, which in a way made my stroll around the area more pleasant.  The hustle and bustle of Kyoto wasn’t there, but the soft glow of light against the sliding front doors created a lovely quiet ambience.

The next day I rented a bike and immediately set off looking for a French toast place that one of the hostel workers recommended to me to have breakfast at.  (I went for the lemon curd French toast, although was intrigued by the potato salad with walnuts and honey one, which the menu assured me was “a surprisingly delicious combination”…)

Kenrokuen was next on my list, one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan (another of which I’ll see in Okayama this weekend).  Midday probably wasn’t the best time to go as it was absolutely sweltering, but the trees created a welcome shade and I had green tea flavoured kakigouri (shaved ice with syrup) so that cooled me down a bit.

I hopped back on me bike in search of the sushi place the guy on the train told me about.  It was a take out place with an old lady watching TV inside while she waited for customers.  I called through the glass hatch and asked for eel with cucumber, and it seemed a shame to only order one, so I got one filled with octopus and tartare sauce as well.  Maybe I should open my open shop at home?!

I pedalled off to a different teahouse district, wondering if it would be any different.  Nope, just smaller and fewer shops.  I thoroughly enjoyed riding my bike on the way through the residential areas, as there were so many streams that the houses had been built so that little bridges connected the main road to their front doors over the water.  I went to a tiny museum about a Japanese author I’d never heard of, who wrote an extremely succesful book when he was about 21, went insane from the fame it brought him and died in his early thirties.  The museum worker was very keen to take my picture sitting in the author’s living room, so that was fun.

I got severely judged when I bought a chocolate soft serve ice cream from a very posh chocolate shop where three ladies in black suits were working.  Probably because I was wearing a Marvel T-Shirt and demin shorts, also looking a bit sweaty from being out in the blazing sun, but I didn’t let their cold service ruin my enjoyment of demolishing the ice cream.  It did make me miss friendly Aomorians a little, though.

Finished the day at the 21st Museum of Contemporary Art, which I only really wanted to go to because of its exhibit, The Swimming Pool.  I made the mistake of getting a ticket for the temporary exhibition, which was about three artists from Korea, China and Japan, who created a fictitious state where people who love art could live, called Xijing.  Some of the installations were quite fun, like their Winter Olympics room, where a video showed two of the artists having a fencing match with feather dusters.  Some of it was a bit too weird though, like the room where a man in a bunny costume was lying down on the floor.  The sign said he was an illegal Korean immigrant and was being paid to lie there for seven hours a day.  I enjoyed the Swimming Pool though, both looking over the surface at the people “swimming” underneath, and getting to go under it myself so I could feel like a mermaid.

Click on the link for photos as I don’t have any room left on my WordPress account 😦

View post on imgur.com

//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js

On Wednesday I headed for Kobe where I just had one night planned.  I got there in the evening, and went off to find somewhere to eat Kobe beef.  I got to a restaurant, the first customer of the evening, sat down and looked at the menu.  There were two options: 8,500 yen (£64) beef or 10,000 yen (£75) beef.  There’s nothing more awkward than having to apologise and leave a restaurant because you’re not carrying enough cash.  I opted for a safer-looking Italian place and ordered the nicest beef they had there, with garlic butter sauce.  I had summer vegetable and eel fritters with miso sauce for starter, which was absolutely delicious.  The beef was a little disappointing; it was very fatty and took me about five minutes to chew each piece.

Eager to experience some nightlife, I walked over to Harborland to see the pretty lights and stuff.  It was a lovely area for a stroll, with lots of little shops lining the deck and the reflections of the Port Tower and other illuminated buildings reflected in the water.  As I was sitting on a bench with my iced tea, Queen’s I Was Born  To Love You suddenly began playing over to my left, and bursts of water shot up into the air in synchronisation.  There were lasers, coloured lights and pyrotechnics, all jumping out of the water to the beat of Queen like performing dolphins.  I have no idea why it was happening, and one of the workers at my hostel said she’d never heard of something like that either.

I was going to go back the next morning, but the beef didn’t agree with me during the night and I was a bit sick in the toilet of my shared hostel dorm.  I decided to have an easy morning, but it was so hot and I forgot it was a national holiday, which meant by the time I got near Harborland you couldn’t move for people.  I had a quick lunch, got my stuff at the hostel and headed to my next stop, Takamatsu, a little earlier than planned.

//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js

Despite the people on the Shinkansen from Kobe to Okayama being packed liked sardines, I managed to get a seat at my transfer and felt a sense of relief as I watched the scenery change to rice fields and trees again.  Crossing the bridge over the sea to Shikoku, seeing all the little islands and fishing boats dotted around, I realised how much big cities stress me out.  I’m so glad I got to spend two years in the countryside, even if it did seem boring sometimes.

Let’s enjoy travelling!

The stress of leaving is over and I have started my solo travels of Japan!  My last few days in Aomori were spent getting burnt and having fun on the beach, furiously cleaning and gutting my apartment, meeting the new guy taking over my job and helping him sort out his phone and bank account, trying to sort my own bank account out to send money home, chilling at Lauren’s and trying to savour the time I had left with my friends.

I went to Goshogawara on Saturday to see Tachineputa, and couldn’t really believe it had been two years exactly since I arrived in Aomori and got the train by myself to see it.  The highlight was seeing my favourite student, who graduated to senior high school in April, dancing with his classmates in the parade.  We were on the same train from Goshogawara the day before, and he told me he was going to be in it, and I said I’d keep a look out for him!  During the parade we saw each other and waved like mad, and he kept waving whenever he turned around, then danced away with a huge smile on his face.  Another highlight was seeing Lauren and some other ALTs who were taking part, playing the hand cymbals and getting the crowd hyped up.

Lauren ganbareee~!

My last night in Aomori was spent watching the biggest most spectacular fireworks I’ve ever seen, as in to the point where the fireworks turn into multi-coloured hearts.  I got ready with Yuka at her place, and we wore our yukatas which were maybe a bit louder than most designs, but we thought fireworks were an appropriate occasion to look flashy!

Yuka took me to Shin-Aomori station the next morning, and it was only when we were saying goodbye that I started crying.  I thought I’d cry when I said goodbyes to my other friends, but having them so spread out made it feel less final, until I was actually leaving.  I got on the train all teary-eyed, but then a nice-looking Japanese couple sat in front of me and smiled when we made eye contact.  A few minutes later they turned around and struck up a conversation and it turned out they were visiting from Tokyo to see Nebuta.  The man was from Kanazawa and recommended me his favourite take-out sushi place, and we exchanged emails.  I felt a bit better then.

This is the rough route I’m doing over twelve days with my rail pass until I go to Summer Sonic in Tokyo, then fly home on the 22nd. (Kanazawa – Kobe – Takamatsu – Okayama – Hiroshima – Hamamatsu – Kawasaki – Chiba)

I’m in my hostel in Kanazawa now, and the (foreign!) guy sitting opposite me is eating cup ramen, but kind of quietly lapping the noodles up with his tongue rather than slurping them up in one go and it’s driving me nuts.  Have I turned Japanese?

Golden Week in Bangkok and Chiang Mai

Praise Japan and its generous number of public holidays.  This year’s Golden Week had a total of four holidays, which worked out that if you took two days off work as paid leave, you ended up with a rather tasty ten-day break!  Eager to cross off the next country on my travel bucket list, I rounded up three friends and began planning a trip to Thailand: three days in Bangkok and four days up in the mountainous city of Chiang Mai, with a day in Tokyo and two days travelling/recuperating at the end.

In March I posted about the plum blossoms in Kameido Shrine and how I wanted to go back for the wisteria festival – so that’s what we did in Tokyo!  It was significantly busier, but the weather was superb for a spot of terrapin-watching and gorging on freshly baked sweet potato chips and mochi.

As our other friends booked the wrong plane tickets, Lauren and I spent the first morning wandering around town.  We had a bit of a hectic arrival at 2am when the taxi driver couldn’t find the apartment we were staying at.  We ended up getting a different taxi who tried to rip us off at the end, which I was having none of.  The first taxi cost us 350 baht from the airport, despite dropping us off in the completely wrong location, and the second didn’t put the taxi meter on so he decided to charge us 500 baht instead of the 80 or so it should have cost us.  Luckily I’d done my research and knew about this habit of theirs, so after suggesting we give him 100 baht and being consequently laughed at, I gave him 200 and an angry rant about how we were tired, annoyed and not in the mood for his shit.  Whether he understood my English or not, he got the message.  Lauren said she was going to just cough up the 500 and leave, but decided from then on she would definitely leave the haggling to me!  You don’t mess with a Fraser.

I feel like I’m going to write too much so I’ll aim for a quick summary of each day!  EDIT: Oh well I tried.

Day 1: Tried to find a cafe from Tripadvisor – failed.  Tried to find the place where you get a massage from a blind person – failed.  Someone yelled “ELLEEEEEN!” from the middle of the road, it was Mina (another Aomori JET friend) who was standing next to a car with its hazards on, parked dubiously in the middle of a roundabout.  We ended up driving over an hour north of Bangkok with her Thai friend to Ayutthaya to see an awesome temple.  It rained and the roads were flooded, which was scary, but we got to see a floating market and some weird stunt show depicting the battle between Myanmar and Thailand.  We finished the evening with a Thai massage, where my body was pulled and stretched in ways I never knew possible, then tried to find some street food for dinner.  We stumbled into a bit of local territory and couldn’t read any of the signs or menus, but luckily we came across Mina’s Thai friend who had just bought some dinner for his parents.  He ordered us all Pad See Ew for 40 baht each (about 80p), which was cooked at the front of what looked like someone’s garage and served on plastic plates from Tesco, and it probably remains the best thing I ate all week.

(The first four photos are from our day in Tokyo.)

Day 2: Sam and Alex arrived in the early hours, didn’t get off to a great start when Sam realised she left her phone in the taxi and we had to sort that out.  We got it eventually though!  Spent the day at Chatuchak market, which sells EVERYTHING, but we probably spent the most money on food and fruit smoothies.  I am in love with Thai food.  There is such a variety of dishes, everything is so sweet and spicy and fragrant, which is a wonderful change from the same dishes that get repeated over and over in Japan.  For our first lunch of the day, I ordered a spicy crab and green mango salad and shared a coconut ice cream in its shell with Lauren.

Day 3: Had a lazy morning while we packed up to go to Chiang Mai.  Decided to hit up Wat Pho to see the reclining Buddha, which was too long to get a decent photograph of!  He was sort of lying behind all these pillars, so you got to see different sections of him as you walked down the side.  It was ridiculously hot, and we took shade under the trees in the temple courtyard. Caught the plane that evening and had a nice dinner at our hotel, the Rainforest Boutique.  It really felt like a holiday when we started drinking coconut rum out of a coconut with a cocktail cherry on a stick.

Day 4: Lauren suggested we go to the Royal Gardens in the morning.  We were probably the first ones there, so it felt a bit eerie walking around with the loudspeakers playing instrumental versions of Kiss From A Rose and November Rain.  We got a taxi back, which was more like a red truck with no door on the back that you just hopped in through and sat on the bench inside.  We soon realised these were the norm in Chiang Mai, and to hail one you have to ask the driver if they are going in the same direction as you.  If not, try a different one!  For lunch we all tried the Chiang Mai speciality, Khao Soi Gai, which is noodle curry soup with crispy fried noodles sprinkled on top.  Back at the hotel I got an aromatherapy massage, but wasn’t feeling great and thought I was coming down with something.  My fears were confirmed when the masseuse looked at me worriedly and said she thought I had a fever…

Day 5: I woke up feeling like crap on the day we were due to see the Elephant sanctuary, the day I’d been looking forward to most.  I almost didn’t go, even put my pyjamas back on and resigned myself to bed feeling a bit sad about my predicament.  Then I thought “fuck it” and got up and went.  Who knows if I’d be able to get this opportunity again?!  I could just sweat the fever out!!  It must have worked because when we were outside my back felt like a waterfall and I didn’t feel as bad later.  (Also probably due to it being 38 degrees.)

The Elephant Nature Park was for elephants who had been rescued from a lifetime of pain in the circus, at tourist attractions where they were forced to “paint” pictures, carry people on their backs for treks and carry logs through the forest.  We were shown a very disturbing video on the way there in the minibus of the elephants’ previous lives – I was a complete emotional wreck and couldn’t watch!  I suppose I hadn’t really considered how badly they were treated in order to become submissive enough to let tourists ride on their backs or do stunts in a show, so to know the whole truth was very overwhelming.  It made me glad I chose to see them enjoying their lives in peace, with endless supplies of watermelon and pumpkin to keep them happy.  Some were blind, some had missing ears, some had broken legs that had healed badly so they had to limp.  One poor thing had stepped on a landmine and had her foot blown apart.  There were many dogs at the park too, most of which had been rescued during the floods after the earthquake five years ago.  We were allowed to feed and touch some of the friendlier elephants, which was amazing.  We held out halves of watermelon at the beginning of the day for the elephants to take from us with their trunks – they were so rough; it was the strangest feeling!  I loved the sound their trunks made as they curled the food away into their mouths, like a huge sheet of sandpaper being swept over a smooth rock.  I loved watching the other elephants eating huge stalks of grass, lifting it up with their trunks and absent-mindedly stuffing it in their mouths at all sorts of awkward angles, then just letting it fall to the ground if it didn’t fit in properly.  We got to see a three week old baby elephant and its mum too, which was gorgeous.  At feeding time, another young elephant ran over and trampled all through the watermelon, closely followed by one of the dogs who had come to investigate.  We had an amazing vegetarian buffet lunch, then finished the day giving the elephants a bath in the river and relaxing on the viewing platform to see them play in the mud.

Day 6: Sam and Alex had plans to go to Tiger Kingdom to see the tigers, but Lauren and I didn’t fancy it (paying to see tigers in cages had us suspicious for a number of reasons) so we enrolled in a Thai cooking class (it was called Thai Orchid cooking school) for the day instead.  Our teacher was lovely and let us choose from a number of dishes.  I made fresh spring rolls, Tom Yum Kung, Penang curry, Pad Thai and a steamed banana cake with cocount.  During the break the teacher took us down to the market, where she told us about traditional Thai herbs and spices, let us try unusual fruits and have a wander around.  We tried durian, which tastes better than it smells… The texture was creamy like an avocado and it tasted like a ripe papaya with a strong hint of garlic.  Not the worst thing I’ve ever eaten!  My favourite was the mangosteen, which tasted like lychee.  That evening we explored the night market and stocked up on more elephant trousers and souvenirs.

Day 7: We had no plans for our final day in Thailand. so we found a nice cafe on Trip Advisor to go to for lunch.  It was too early to eat when we found it, but we happened upon a beauty salon and decided to get our nails done while Alex went for a wander.  Our sleeper train to Bangkok left at 5, so we said our goodbyes at the hotel and headed to the station.  At about 7:30, the train guard came to make our beds, pulling out seats and compartments to make bunk beds on either side of the carriage.  It was surprisingly comfortable!  I would’ve slept better if the train guard hadn’t been in the next bunk over, making the weirdest snoring sounds I’ve ever heard in my life, like hundreds of farting butterflies were being expelled from his mouth.  12 hours of travelling down and 24 to go, we hung around at the airport until our flight back to Tokyo was ready, then when we had safely landed it was straight to Shinjuku to catch the night bus back to Aomori.  I was dreading it, but I thankfully I slept like a baby and felt only a bit gross when I finally got home.

I’m really keen to explore the southern parts of Thailand, definitely need to visit a few beaches, so I’m sure I’ll be back.  Wouldn’t mind if I missed Bangkok though – it was fun, but a typical touristy city.  I just want more mango and sticky rice.

Hakodate Take 2

Every year after the Skills Development Conference in Aomori City, a group of JETs jump on a ferry and head to Hakodate, a city on the southernmost tip of Hokkaido, just a four-hour journey away.  It’s known for its delicious seafood, beautiful scenic views, kitsch burger chain Lucky Pierrot, and more recently as the place where I broke my arm in an unfortunate piggy-back accident.

Despite the many hilarious jokes about broken bones thrown in my direction, I decided to try again and accomplish what I couldn’t last year.  In Japanese this is called リベンジ　(ribenji i.e. revenge): a classic case of Japanglish where it’s just… not quite.  Another example of this, which I came across the other week, was when I asked my friend how I could say “repetitive” in Japanese, and he suggested ワンパターン (wanpataan i.e. one pattern).  “This song is catchy but so one pattern!”  Hmmmm maybe not.

I find it interesting how English words make it into the Japanese vocabulary, and I get where they’re coming from but it probably wouldn’t directly be translated like that.  I wonder if we use foreign words like that and don’t realise that’s not how they’re used by native speakers??  Anyway, I digress…

This time in Hakodate I didn’t break anything and I got to see all the sights I wanted and eat everything I came for, including market seafood breakfast, Hokkaido curry, teriyaki burgers, miso curry milk ramen, gyoza, ice cream and crepes.  Parts of Hakodate made me feel like I was walking around Disneyland: the cobbled streets, the tram system, the pink winter sky at sunset, the pretty pastel facades and red brick warehouses, the tinsel hanging from old-fashioned street lamps, the bustle of people by the port… it felt Western but in a weird, nostalgic, not-quite-genuine way.  It’s probably something to do with how 150 years ago, Japan’s 220 years of isolation was ended when Hakodate became the first port to be opened to the public, which brought over many Western influences.  The pale blue and yellow paneling of the old British Consulate in particular felt like a Disneyland attraction.

One night before going on the ropeway to see the night view, we walked around a hilly district called Motomachi, which was full of churches.  We came up to the Russian Orthodox church just as mass was beginning, and we got to hear the bells ring.  They weren’t like any church bells I’ve heard before, and with the clouds lit up by the moon like smoke and the trees with their spindly branches looming over us, it made the atmosphere really eerie!  Alexander and I ruined it though by projecting shadow puppets onto the side of the church.

Morning fish market

Seafood set deal!

Goryokaku, star-shaped park

View from the observatory

HOKKAIDO ICE CREAM!

Reenacting the broken arm scene

Public foot onsen

Russian Orthodox church

Night view of the city

Derps

My love

Lucky Pierrot

The Old British Consulate

Teatime

Highlights of the trip were my 2000 yen (£11) seafood breakfast in the market  which I had twice! (freshly caught sea urchin, cod roe, scallop, squid and crab on a bowl of rice), strolling around the waterfront at night, having Japanified afternoon tea at the British Consulate, doing karaoke in a tiny bar, having an evening of games, drinking and eating in our rented apartment, seeing the night view of Hakodate, and generally being with great friends and getting to know new ones.  I’m glad this time things worked out in my favour!!

Golden Week in Beijing

Arriving in China felt very strange.  It was the first time I’d left Japan and hadn’t been to another country in Asia until then.  For some reason I expected China and Japan to be quite similar, mainly because a lot of Japanese culture has its origins in China, but apart from that I was very wrong! I got into a taxi from the airport and showed the driver my hostel’s address.  He took one look at it, then turned to me with a bewildered look on his face and let out a loud “HUH?!” in my direction.  He chewed his gum loudly while I pointed at the hostel’s address at the top of the page. I was a bit taken aback and suddenly missed the Japanese taxi drivers with their white gloves and smart caps, who smile politely and apologise gently when they’re not entirely sure where it is I want them to take me.  But on the other hand I found the people in Beijing refreshing as I spent more time there.  They aren’t afraid to speak their minds, and everywhere I went people were having lively conversations in the streets or playing checkers outside their front door, flying kites or riding bikes with speakers that blared out Chinese music as they sailed past me in the road.

One major cultural difference I did not get on with was the amount of gobbing on the streets.  I heard that unappealing sound of phlegm being hawked up and its abrupt encounter with the pavement too many times during my week there.  But at least some people had the decency to do it into a bin. What struck me most was how interesting Beijing smells; I could not put my finger on it the whole time I was there, but there was always this warm, sweet, spicy aroma floating throughout the streets and hutongs.  Occasionally it was met by the not so pleasant stench of sewage, but apart from that, if you walked through China Town in London I think it would be a similar experience; it would just lack the dusty paths, yoghurt stands and ramshackle houses that characterised Beijing’s alleyways. My hostel was located down a narrow hutong in the city, with an inviting lounge and a pretty outside courtyard where the dorms were.  The girl in the bunk opposite to me was also on JET and spending the same amount of time in Beijing as me, and we ended up hanging out a few times during our stay which was fun.  I met some other friendly travellers too, a group of English teachers based in Seoul and Hong Kong, and we all went on the same tour to the Great Wall together.

I spent every day walking and sightseeing.  A lot of major tourist spots consisted of temples, so by the end of my trip I was a bit templed-out.  They were very beautiful though, and usually the sights had other things to offer and a fascinating history to boot. On my first day I went on a bike tour led by a guy called Jerry.  His English was tinged with a British accent, he was very enthusiastic about the UK and generally a really nice guide so we got along well!  I was the only one on the tour so it was great to have a personal tour of Beijing.  We cycled through all the backstreets and hutongs, had steamed dumplings and noodles at his favourite childhood restaurant, and he gave me a very detailed explanation of the history of China, which was interesting but I found myself struggling after about 15 minutes.  I realised afterwards I hardly took any photos of the hutongs because cycling made it a bit difficult but oh well.  Later I went to an acrobatics show, then walked around Tiananmen Square at dusk.  The sheer vastness of it all, with the slightly kitsch-looking portraits of Chairman Mao and Sun Yat-sen at either end was weird.  One lady came up to me with her camera and said something in Chinese so I assumed she wanted me to take a picture, but then she stood next to me and put her arm round my waist so her boyfriend could take a photo of her with me.  So I got one with her on my camera!  Then four or five other people saw and also asked to have their picture taken with me… I felt special.  There were loads of people gathering in front of the Forbidden City (the bit with Mao’s portrait on it) but I didn’t know why so I wandered off to the night market.  I later realised they were waiting for some sort of military parade/changing of the guards type thing that happens every day at dawn and dusk.

A man doing mountain climbers with his dog in front of the Bell Tower

Jerry

A man playing a very shrill instrument with one string and a bow

Lunch with Jerry

Flags at Tiananmen Square

Posing with a fan

Waiting for the military parade

The next day I went to Lama Temple and the Temple of Confucius.  I loved the earthy reds, greens and yellows of the Lama Temple and seeing so many people and a few monks come to pray.  The way they prayed was different to how they do in Japan, as they held a bunch of burning incense between their palms lifted above their heads, and turned to bow in each direction.  I actually find watching people pray more interesting than going in the temples! Confucius’ temple was cool as well.  There were rows and rows of stone blocks with the engravings of his succesful pupils’ names.  Afterwards I tried to find the hutongs again but got lost and went to the next restaurant I came across in desparation.  I ordered “marinated pork” and was presented with a huge plate of fat and bones, no exaggeration.  There was maybe one tiny strand of meat.  The waitress saw me scrounging for meat with my chopsticks and gave me a pair of disposable gloves, but it was all in vain.  Luckily I’d ordered a tofu dish as well so that kept me going.

Tofu: good. Fat and bones: not good.

I booked a tour with the hostel to the Great Wall for the next day.  We went to the Jinshanling to Simatai section, which is one of the least climbed and less reconstructed parts of the wall.  I really wanted to climb the more rugged and less touristy parts, so this 6km hike sounded perfect.  Even driving the three hours (although it took us five due to traffic) out of the city had some incredible views of the wall’s remains twisting along the mountains.  I totally underestimated the intensity of the wall; I knew it was long, but until I was standing on it I hadn’t realised the true extent of its scale.  Over 2,000 years to build, 13,170 miles long and millions of lives lost to its construction… it was kinda creepy.  I also forgot that it was built on the mountain tops, so it took us a good 25 minutes of climbing up steps before we could start the actual hike, and we were sweatin’ like.

It was worth it though; seeing the wall stretching out and fading into the distance was really surreal.  It looked like someone had piped a neat line of white icing all along the highest points of the mountains, adding a decorative peak for each watch tower.  I imagined the wall to be relatively flat, but I was wrong… the path swooped up and down with the mountains’ rise and fall, which made the climb quite challenging.  The steps up and down to each watch tower (the section we climbed had 22) were so steep we might as well’ve been scaling a wall (ha ha).  It was such an amazing experience though, and very rewarding towards the end of our hike when our surroundings were cast in the warm glow of the early evening sun.

A group of us were desperate to try the famous Peking duck at the restaurant ‘Dadong’, and seeing as the rest of them had to go home the next day we headed straight into town when we got off the bus at 9pm.  Dusty, sweaty and tired, we walked into a fancy-looking place on the top floor of a building, still in our hiking gear but too hungry to care!  The duck was super tender and served in slices, unlike the shredded kind I’ve had in the UK.  Our waitress showed us the proper way to fill the pancake, and to dip the duck skin in sugar before eating it!  It was quite nice but I’m all about the plum sauce and cucumber.

The duck’s pancake friends

The next day I went to the Temple of Heaven, located in a pretty park which seemed a popular place for locals to come down with their mates and play board games, badminton, hackey sack or just sit on a bench and work on their embroidery together.  I think I’ll move to Beijing when I’m old!  The main building was where the emperor would personally pray to heaven for good harvests, and I got some creepy vibes when I read about the sacrificial ceremonies that they used to have.

I spent the last few days strolling around the hutongs, going to Beihai Park and having lunch at a nice courtyard restaurant with no menus, so the chef decided what to give you based what ingredients were available that day.  I got some dried mushrooms in a spicy sauce, spicy chicken, a salad, more mushrooms and a huge piece of fish which I had to take in a doggy bag!  I got a surprise when I wanted to use the toilet and they said it was broken so I should use the public toilet around the corner, only to be met with four squat holes in a row with no dividers… I knew Chinese toilets were horrible but this was just unnecessary.

I went out with the my new JET friend a couple of times, exploring the night market full of stalls selling delicious dumplings, gyoza and fruit skewers, and some not-so-appetising delicacies such as scorpions, ox tripe and whole baby birds.  We went to Mao’s Mausoleum on our last day early in the morning as it was only open until noon, and joined the masses of Chinese people dressed in their Sunday best to pay their respects.  I find it strange how many people still love him even after what he did.  It was a very surreal experience; we had to store our belongings in a special locker and went through various security checks, before entering the mausoleum building.  There was a huge white statue of Mao in front of which people were laying yellow flowers they’d just bought from the stall by the entrance.  We walked to the room where he lay all waxy-looking in his big glass box, surrounded by a beautiful arrangement of flowers.  We were shuffled past in silence by security, no stopping to gawk was allowed, and we walked out into the sunlight in a slight daze as to what we’d just seen.  He looked so weird.  Couldn’t really tell if it was real or not but with the amount of security I had to assume that it was actually him.  Still not sure how I felt about it.  You can see our reaction faces in the gallery below somewhere.

Finished up the day with a lovely meal at a vegetarian restaurant, which served many dishes stylised as meat but were actually made from tofu.  The “cumin lamb” was my favourite, along with a dish of fried tofu, peanuts and mushrooms.  I had a few hits and misses cuisine-wise in Beijing, but this was definitely the biggest hit.

Downtown

Night market entrance

Around the hutongs

Rickshaws

My fancy no-menu lunch

Flowers in Beihai Park

Harmonica Trio

View from the pagoda in Beihai Park

Nice eyebrows

Steps to the pagoda

Our reaction to seeing Mao’s waxy corpse

My last meal at a beautiful vegetarian restaurant

Beijing was such an interesting, lively city to explore, and made a welcome break from my quiet Japanese town.  I’m not sure I could live in Beijing though, mainly because I’ve been spoilt by Japan’s pristine public toilets and don’t think I can live in a world without soap and toilet paper.  Leaving Japan for the first time gave me a new perspective on where I live now, and I actually felt glad to be “home” when I got in my car at the airport and began my drive through the mountains back to Fukaura.

Sakura, Temples and Naughty Deer

That’s probably how I’d sum up the week with my sister when she came to see me in Japan.  We actually arranged her early April visit without knowing that cherry blossom season would be in full swing, so it was the perfect time for both of us to experience Japan during its prettiest time of year.

I headed to Tokyo by myself first to spend the weekend with some friends from university (I also got to fulfill my dream of going to the Ghibli museum!), then met up with Lindsey on Monday morning.  In my slightly hungover state and Lindsey in her jet-lagged daze, we weren’t feeling too fresh, but we somehow managed to fit eight hours of exploring into our day.

The first thing we did was get a panoramic view of Tokyo from the top of the Government Building.  This was the first thing I did when I arrived in Japan so it felt a bit weird and nostalgic.  Before Lindsey arrived, I’d discovered the huge supermarket/deli in the basement of Shinjuku station, so we got some sushi (including anago which is my FAVOURITE even though it’s eel) and fancy cakes which we ended up not really eating because omg so much chocolate.

We had our lunch underneath the cherry blossoms of Shinjuku Gyoen and wandered around the park just being amazed at how pretty it was, and ruining people’s selfies by standing right behind them.  We later walked to Harajuku and did purikura (I’ll post a photo later) but the road was so crowded we genuinely couldn’t move for about ten minutes, so we didn’t go THAT way again.

We met up with my friend in the evening and went to a yakitori place.  Despite not really liking it when I first came to Japan because I thought it was all chicken hearts and stuff, we’ve eaten it whenever we’ve met up so I get him to order everything and it turns out there’s a lot of variety!  It’s pretty much Japanese tapas but with an emphasis on chicken. I love tapas.  One of our favourites is just a bowl of raw cabbage, which we tear bits off and dip in the sauce… Japan knows how to make the simplest food taste good.

The next day was spent roaming around Asakusa, seeing Rev. Run (of Run-D.M.C.) and his family and camera crew which gave us a right giggle, and eating the best and biggest mango kakigouri (shaved ice with syrup) of my life.  We tried to go to the Imperial Gardens but dunno what happened because it seemed like there was nothing really to see and we couldn’t work out how to get to the actual gardens but nevermind.

We were heading to Osaka by shinkansen the next afternoon, but managed to fit in a trip to the Korakuen garden which was very pleasant.

Tokyo (click the photos to make them bigger)

Pedal boat in Inoshikara Park

View from the Government building

Shinjuku Gyoen

My ideal day

Off to find some yakitori for dinner

Asakusa

Shinjuku at night

Tokyo Korakuen

I love Kyoto so seeing some of the same attractions I did with mum and dad didn’t bother me, as they are simply stunning.  Kinkakuji is probably one of my favourite buildings.  We also saw its silver sister Ginkakuji which I hadn’t been to before, although that one never actually got its coating done, so it should probably just be called Kakuji… (Just looked it up and it’s officially called Jishoji, “Temple of Shining Mercy”, so there you go.)  I preferred the gardens at this one, particularly for the view of Kyoto at the top and the sand garden.  We saw yet more temples in the afternoon, then evening came and we headed to the bustling alley of Pontocho near the geisha district to find somewhere to eat.

We bravely chose somewhere which was clearly not catered for tourists, hidden away down a side alley lined with softly glowing lanterns.  I wasn’t entirely sure what I was ordering but we got some delicious mackerel with rice, tempura, tofu and sesame salad and THE BEST pork I’ve ever had.  So crisp and juicy.

The next day we were kinda beat from all the walking, so we set about Kyoto with a little less vigour than before.  Highlights were the orange gates of Inari shrine (which I forgot to take pictures of!) and Nishiki market.  We had dinner at an okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) restaurant which covered five floors of one building.  I love any meal where we get to cook it ourselves, so that was fun.

Kyoto and Osaka

Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion)

Garden in Ginkakuji (Silver temple)

Reflection

Maruyama Park

Road to Kiyomizudera

Okonomiyaki

Osaka Castle

We liked this bar in Osaka!

We spent our last full day together in Nara, which I was really looking forward to because I’d never been and was desperate to go to its famous park and hang out with all the deer.  I was not prepared for how dauntless those deer would be.  I made the mistake of buying some crackers and within moments I’d been targeted.  They formed a circle and it wasn’t long before they started pushing me and biting me on the arse to get a cracker.  Meanwhile Lindsey was being terrorised on a whole other level and I would’ve taken a photo if my hands hadn’t been full of crackers and I wasn’t trying to avoid being chased across the park myself.  They were quite cute though when they weren’t being naughty, and they knew it.  They reminded me of a certain dog I have.

The temple itself was the largest wooden structure in the world until 1998, and even though it’s been rebuilt a few times like many historic buildings in Japan, it was still really impressive.  Original construction of the Buddha was completed in 751, but has been recast several times due to reasons such as earthquake damage.  The hands were my favourite part – the last time they were remade was in the 17th century.  The photo I got of the whole statue is a bit crap so you can’t really tell that the Daibutsu is the largest bronze statue of Vairocana Buddha in the world!

So yeah I enjoyed this temple a lot.  We finished up with a nice lunch, went back to Osaka and hung around the castle, then had our last dinner – yakitori!  It was fancy yakitori though.  I was so confused by the seating at first because it looked like we’d have to sit on the floor, but the room was actually built on a platform so you could put your legs in a sunken bit under the table.  I still have trouble sitting in seiza so this was a relief.

Nara

Nara park

Buy some crackers… if you deer

This one bit me on the bum a few times. I had to put the crackers in my bag for my own safety.

Entrance to the temple

Todaiji temple

Lighting incense before entering the temple

Daibutsu in the Great Buddha Hall

Fwends

Going on holiday always amazes me because I do so much more in one day than I normally would.  It depresses me that it’s already past lunchtime and I could be walking around a city somewhere, but instead I’ve just studied Japanese and written this blog post.  The break was definitely needed though!  And now I’m counting down the days until my solo trip to Beijing…(20!!)

Hakkoda

The weekend before last, Aomori AJET organised a cabin party at Hakkoda, a ski resort in the centre of the prefecture. There were about five cabins, with up to nine people staying in each one.  It was basically an excuse to drink, play games, have snowball fights and have an AMAZING breakfast the next day, thanks to the organisers who went to the American air base to get supplies.  We had bagels, peanut butter, bacon, BROWN BREAD!!!, eggs, waffles, nutella, Tropicana, cinnamon rolls… I love my daily porridge and banana but this was a very welcome treat.

The majority of people spent the next day skiing and snowboarding, seeing as we were right next to a ski resort.  Some people went a little further to Hakkoda, a slightly more notorious mountain known in particular for being covered in ‘snow monsters’.  The friend I came with had decided not to snowboard that day, so we headed over to Hakkoda to get the ropeway cable car to the top of the mountain.

It took about five minutes to get to the top in the cable car.  My friend and I were at the front of the queue to get on, so we nabbed the space at the front of the car and gazed out of the window as the trees receded into the distance and the glistening bay of Aomori gradually came into view.  It’s clear how Aomori got its name!! (Ao(i) = blue, mori = forest)

Gooooing up!

When we got to the top, we just stood and stared out at the 360 view of rolling hills and snowy forests.  I felt very at peace with the world.  Behind us, others were getting ready to ski down the mountainside.

Skiing through the snow monsters

In contrast to the huge drop down in front of us, we turned around to see an expanse of white that seemed to stretch for miles into the distance.  Some people had strapped on mini-skis and were shuffling off for a snow hike.

The snow monsters were impressive, but up close they were beautiful.  The wind had frozen the snow into jagged crystals, which were beginning to melt in the sun.  It was so gorgeous that I joked about taking my coat off and lying down to sunbathe.  It didn’t sound as stupid once I said it out loud, so I went with it and it may have been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.  I found the perfect slope and lay out my coat.  Lying on the snow in my t-shirt, on a mountain, soaking up the sun in its beautiful blue sky, the only sound being the whisper of melted snow falling to the ground… ultimate bliss.  We stayed like that for at least half an hour until a cloud lurked over and it felt like the temperature dropped by about 10 degrees.  But it was lovely while it lasted.