The Beaker Incident

After nearly two weeks now I have begun to see that we are falling into roles on this trip. Emma does train and bus travel management. I do map reading and logistics (lifting bags) and medical services (to prevent Emma's Mum from worrying I'm glad to say nothing more than administering a few paracetomol so far!)  I have also taken over translation as for some reason they struggle to understand Emma but with me they find it easier to understand what I am saying. After one such incident I could see Emma having to walk away laughing rather a lot.  Upon asking her what was so funny she asked me why I put on a funny oriental/english accent when speaking to the natives.  Not very pc and honestly not intentional but it does seem to work.

One of the opportunities that travelling gives you is time to take stock of your life and what to do in the future. After an interesting incident back in Tokyo, I have decided that my future career lies in hairdressing!

Before we went away Emma wanted to get her hair cut and shorten her lovley locks so making it easier to manage.  Due to a very busy schedule she did not get the chance. After a few days it started to annoy her and so she decided to get it cut.  After considering the potential language barrier issues with a Japanese stylist she asked the next best person, me, to cut 6 inches off her pony tail!! Now after the last hairdressing incident a few months ago (the yellow hair dying incident - Siobhain will recognise this as it was two weeks before her wedding to Emma's brother) and the upset that caused (not by me I hasten to add) I have to say I was more than a little nervous.

The first hurdle was finding scissors.  After looking around for a while I remembered that I had my trusty old pen knife which included a small pair of scissors. After testing them on a peice of paper to make sure they were still sharp and a swig of something strong the scene was set for my masterpeice.

All was going well until I got to the middle of the ponytail where my thumb started to hurt and the scissors seemed to stop working, however I perservered and after several minutes of what can only be described as hacking the job was done.

The next few minutes were like a plastic surgeon waiting to take off the bandages whilst we looked for a mirror. I have to say I was pleased with my work, Emma stopped crying about an hour later (please see note below).  It could have been worse and when she wears it up or under a hat no one would know. After a little wash and some basic trimming of the straddlers she proudly presented her new haircut at which point I
remarked "you look like Tracey Beaker" the popular BBC childrens character with fuzzy triangler hair.  Yes we are still talking and Emma has become acustomed to her new look.

Note: Before a contract is taken out on me by friends and family of Emma, she is fine with her haircut.  She loves it and no crying was involved during or after the procedure :)

Love Nicky Clark and Tracey Beaker

Nara

Nara is half way between the mega cities of Kyoto and Osaka, however

on the train you would never know that they are separate places as they

seem to be joined in a never ending suburban sprawl. The train is definitely the way to travel in Japan, you see more, its very comfortable and efficient. Nara is also the birth place of Japan's culture and religion with some of the sites dating back to the 3rd century AD.

So our few days in Nara started much like any other at the moment:

• Leave hotel/ hostel
• Get train to next place
• Find tourist info, collect leaflets and find accommodation
• Walk the streets (lost for hours - not quite but feels like it when carrying 20K) trying to find the booked accommodation whilst walking past loads of places that would have been closer
• Check in and be told that there is no check in until 15:00
• Start exploring
• Return to hotel at 15:01 to check in, put the bags into the room and then out to explore some more!!

The visit to the tourist info centres are important not just for accommodation but also for the tourist map. These free leaflets really help with getting round the area but also identifying quickly whats worth doing.  Nara was no exception. This particular map had a suggested walking route to take in the main sites of this very old city, so off we went.

 

After a short walk through the town and the tourist shops selling funny looking sweets and fans (never understood why every country sells fans to tourists) we eventually ended up in this park with wild deer running around, startling the tourists and the general passers by.

 

The park/countryside was filled with temples, traditional Japanese house/halls and thousands of stone lanterns which are only lit twice a year (I wonder why?) We even managed with some planning to have a picnic on top of Wakakusa Hill overlooking Nara and the park (see falling over boy picture...it wasn't that windy he just fell over). The end of the trail ended in a visit to Todai-ji Daibutsu-den, the largest wooden structure in the world, boy they were not kidding. Inside the building was a 16m high bronze statue of Budda. Now in Japan we have seen some temples, we have seen some buildings both modern and ancient but this place took our breath away.  Its scale, its beauty and how the Japanese care for the place.  Even though this was not the last stop in Japan, it topped our sightseeing off nicely.

 

Also on the route we came across a Temple much like the others we had seen on this trip, selling fortunes. For a bit of fun we decided to see what our fortune held and Emma became attached to this particular one as it came accompanied by a little wooden Deer. So No-i (as he has now become known) is the 3rd member of the team and will be cropping up in photos from time to time. Its a good job we got a useless piece of wood for our Y500 as the fortune was headed up saying "Limited Good Fortune".

 

Next Osaka and the Boat to China.

Shanghai at night from a very cool bar

Thailand Plans

Just a quick update, it looks like the violence in Bangkok is
escalating and they could be heading towards civil war. UK government
have advise not to travel to Bangkok unless absolutely necessary. We are
not planning to be in Bangkok for another 2 months and have plenty of
time to monitor the situation. If necessary we will skip Bangkok all
together and go straight to the south or miss out Thailand entirely. Emma has been before and we
where only planning to stay in Bangkok 3 days anyway so not no big issue if we
have to miss it.

 

Bill & Emma

Just a quick update.

We have arrived in China safe and sound. Due to Internet restrictions
we are findings it difficult to update the blog with both blogging and
facebook sites blocked. Will see what we can do to keep the updates
coming.

Sent from my iPhone

Shanghai at night wow!!!

A scene from Bladerunner.

Todai Temple Nara

View over Nara on a very windy day.

Temple

Lanterns in Nara park grounds

Look a deer, not sure if it's female

Kyoto

Our next destination after Tokyo was Kyoto 500km south. Part of the trip was a tick list of things to do while we were away and one of these was a ride on the bullet train. The journey was 2 hours and as expected very fast but very quiet and oh so smooth. The carriage was much wider than UK trains allowing aircraft type seating with a very roomy 3 plus 2 configuration. The journey was impressive however what impressed me the most was the service. The staff were professional, helpful (and dare I say it) passionate about their job. Its not just the trains where we have seen this level of service but from everyone from shop assistants to people helping to direct the traffic. They are passionate about doing their job well and helping you.  This is not just to tourists but locals a like. As I think you all know I struggle with reading Japanese but I can assume that there are no signs on the trains asking people not to abuse the staff like in the UK. If they cared about their jobs like the Japanese maybe, just maybe, they would not get abused as much (my name is Ben Elton.....Goodnight).

The Bullet trains arrives into a mecca of modern architecture called The Cube. Its the largest building in Kyoto and houses a massive shopping centre, multiple train/metro stations and the biggest atrium (11 stories high) I have ever seen, they seriously know how to build buildings over here.

So why Kyoto, well its one of the original capital cities of Japan and houses the highest density of temples in the country. So after a quick visit to the Tourist Information Centre to find accomodation and pick up a tourist map we selected our top 5 must sees and begun the tour. Our favourite was the Golden Temple this is a temple covered in gold (you don't say) and sitting in a beautiful garden with a lake, amazing! This was also another highlight in it's the first place Emma nearly punched someone. I know you all had bets me being the first to clock someone but poor old Emma got physically pushed out of the way by a Japanese tourist so that they could get the best pictures, very funny and it took several minutes for her to calm down.

Kyoto was another first for us, dorm accomodation. Due to it being the weekend and very busy with tourists we were limited on accomodation.  The only thing left in town was a shared dorm with 12 other lucky souls. I have to say the smell did not bother me, not even the constant snoring from the fellow beside me (a big thanks here for Bio Ears - highly recommended) but it was the fact that no matter what time of the day or night it was someone was sleeping in the room. You have no chance to do stuff, or even get stuff from your bag for fear of disturbing someone.  Also, the mattress or should I say the thin covering of material over a plank of wood did not aid a restful sleep.  I have to say I lost my humour with this place and Emma had her first chance to calm me down.  We were very glad to get out of there.

We both loved Kyoto, more than Tokyo however we did pack rather a lot in and really suffered the next day. We even got to see the last of the cherry blossom which we both wanted to see. We skimmed this place, what with the amazing shopping and sight seeing you could spend a week here and never see everything.

Next destination is Nara, the birth place of Japan

Bill & Emma

This week we have mainly been listening to (Un)Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd

Setting Sun over Siberia.

Toilet Talk

Anyone who read my Everest blog will know my fixation with toilets. I also promised several people not to talk about it again, however Japan`s toilet tech is so good I could not resist.

There are basically two types of toilet in Japan, the high tech throne and the hole in the ground.

My first experience of the high tech version was I have to say a little tentative, you see in my world connecting the toilet seat to the mains cannot be a good thing. The high tech toilets have a command arm to the right (not unlike Captain Kirks chair in Startrek) which controls car wash mode (without the brushes) and seat temperature. The final feature provided on most I have seen I will call the cloaking device. After you sit down the toilet knows what you are doing and begins to fill the water tank ready for the flush, this is designed to cover the embarassment of the users and anyone in close proximity who may hear your workings. Some of the more high tech versions have a speaker and plays the sound of running water which can be controlled during your time in the toilet, very clever. I have to admit this is not the first time I have see this feature used, I have friends (Hi Andy & Dan) who employed the same technique when sharing a hotel room however they used loud Drum and Base played from an Ipod speaker rather than the gentle sound of running water (thats the western diet for you).

The second type is the good old hole in the ground. Over the years I have become a bit of an expert at using these types of loo and with the addition of grab handles to aid the operation what could possible go wrong.

The Japanese version is as much the same as the rest of the world but I do feel they have taken the whole miniaturisation thing too far, the hole in the ground has been modelled on a rat hole. I can imagine that its much like trying to drop a bomb into a cave in Afganistan from 30,000 feet, a challenging activity when in a hurry.

Now that I have spent some time in these facilities I have come up with a gap in the high tech market which I feel could be a winner. A laser guided toilet belt. Mount 3 lasers onto a belt which you wear when you visit said toilets, stick some markings on the floor and when the laser lines up with the markings the belt emits a popular drum and base track so allowing the bomb bay doors to open. To increase sales I could even put a sticker on it "Used by the american military" to give it a push.

This week we have mostly been listening to: Even Flow by Pearl Jam.

The first week in Japan

The start of the trip with our friends at BA was very uneventful although it was very strange flying for 12 hours and never seeing the sun set or rise and staying in dusk.

The plan when we arrived at the airport was to have a look at the best way to our hotel either via the train or Bus. Being a little jet lagged and very tired we decided to go on the Limo bus service which we thought would take us to the station nearest to our hotel. This plan would have worked if we had remembered the correct station, instead we got off totally the wrong side of Tokyo city, after realising our mistake we decided to bugger the expense and get a taxi to our hotel.

So 3 days in Tokyo, we have seen all the key sites and I have to say we love it. For us it rivals New York, Paris and London as one of the great sight seeing cities of the world, very expensive (London prices) but lots to see and do. I would recommend it to anyone and its definitely on the list of places to re-visit.

Food: The food has been great, we have found Italian, American, Chinese, even Australian restuarants to eat in, the food has been great but the prices high - I will come onto the Japanese food later!

The weather has been nice t-shirt weather with occasional jacket in the evenings until the last day in Tokyo which saw unseasonal 2 inches of snow in most areas of Tokyo, must be global warming or the volcano or something :)

The orginal plan was to visit Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka but once we got to Tokyo and read a bit more of the guide book we decided to dump Hiroshima and add in Hakone and Nara which are along the route to Kyoto, so off we trotted to our first adventure outside of Toyko, Hakone. After a long train journey we made a stop at Odawara to change trains, buy another ticket, grab a tea and get some money out of the machines before we went on. I left Emma with the bags while I trotted into town to find a cash machine, after trying 4 or 5 and finding none that had a visa sign let alone had english translation I began to panic. We were down to our last pocket change and needed cash in this very cash based society. After speaking to the tourist info office they directed us to the only machine in town that would give out money to a foriegn visa card, this did not work either. Bugger we are now in trouble, Hakone is a small village in the mountains with little hope of cash machines, also it was a Saturday and all the banks were closed so the only thing we can do is either go forward to Kyoto and hope we find a machine or go all the way back to Tokyo to a known working machine. With heavy hearts we dropped Hakone and the chance of seeing Mt Fuji (and we heard the cherry blossom was still there so Emma was even more bummed as it had passed in Tokyo) and moved straight to Kyoto on the Bullet train - thats the adventures of travelling.

Lesson number 1: Visa is not the same everywhere and is not accepted by most Visa ATM. They only accept Visa cards that are issued in Japan. Kyoto is a huge city with only 1 cash machine able give out money to foreign cards!

So I am writing this blog from a hostel in the cultural centre of Japan Kyoto, our first dorm sleeping accommodation which ironicly costs as much as our comfortable Toyko hotel the first 3 nights.  Yes Japan is very expensive. So are we missing home?  No, we are still loving it.  And have we had our first argument? Not even close.

Sorry for the lack of updates but getting access to machines has been very difficult with Wifi connection for the Iphone non existant.  Please bear with us and we will update when we can.

Oh nearly forgot we had a Japanese meal last night, bloody awful, neither of us liked it, but will try it again.  I am not hopeful, may have to stick to the big yellow arch.

To all the guys at easyJet, good luck with the volcano thing we are watching it unfold on CNN, must be really tough at the moment - joking apart are thoughts are with you.

Will try and update again with a end of Japan review before we hit the ferry and China next Sunday.

This week we have mostly been listening to John Mayer - very cool guy and especially because it was playing in a funky Californian bar overlooking a blustery sea whilst we were on a day trip to Kamkura!

Love to you all, Bill & Emma (aka Tracey Beaker - relates to new hair cut....more next time!!)

The Question everyone keeps asking us?

The second most common question we get asked is where are we going (the answer to the most commonly asked question is NO!). Rather than describe it in a boring list and to use the technology of the day (well I was once in IT you know) I have drawn some lines on a map to show the rough journey we intend taking.

Stage 1: Asia
 We fly into Tokyo then using overland transport make our way to Singapore for our next adventure in Australia. We have a 4 month gap between the flights which should give us enough time to experience the sights and sounds of the key countries/cites along the way.

Stage 2:  Australia
A very different trip stage 2 with transport and accomadation being provided by a campervan, an outback camping trip in Alice Springs then finished off with the back packer bus from Cairns to Sydney.

Stage 3: New Zealand
Again 6 weeks in a campervan exploring both the North and South Islands (can anyone tell me where Mordor is? I can't seem to find it on the map!)

Stage 4: Fiji
After nearly 8 months of travelling and 12 weeks stuck in a small van with no toilets, no shower we have decided to have a post holiday, holiday, sun, relaxation and probably a lot of sleeping.

So thats the current plan, thats the itinery and to be honest that's it, flight is tomorrow, everything is as ready as its going to be and we are both very excited although a little nervous, next blog will be from the flashing lights of Tokyo.

Bill & Emma A million miles from here, not for long :)

This week we have been mostly listing to: Rosie by Kelly Jones