As we arrived back in Bangkok early in the morning from Chiang Mai, we decided to head off immediately to Kanchanaburi (home of the bridge over the river Kwai). This involved a trip on a local train which we just managed to catch, no thanks to a hopeless taxi driver (if you don’t even know where the train station is you might as well call it a day!). After the air conditioning and sleeper carriage of the previous train, the local ones wooden bench seats and open windows were a bit of a come down, but more fun!
Two very numb bums later, we arrived in Kanchanaburi and set off for ‘Sam’s house’ guesthouse; a nice collection of wooden huts on stilts surrounded by water and lotuses. After catching up on some sleep we headed to KTC travel and restaurant to get some food and book on a tour to the Tiger Temple. As is often the case when you plan an early night, it all goes wrong. Debs sensibly headed back to the guesthouse at a reasonable time, whereas I managed, thanks to the meeting of two Aussies Talbot & Emma, to have a bit of a late one. The evening became a search for an elusive bar that had promised free ‘Ping Pong’. As we started to doubt that Talbot had actually seen the sign, we stumbled across it but found the bar to be closed. Fortunately the very nice bar owner, a Frenchman called Jacque opened up especially for us, averting the disaster of a ping pong free evening. The night rather descended from there, until we were politely asked to leave by Jacque. Talbot then managed to get himself trapped under a concrete table and the rest of the night disappeared into a haze!
After a lazy morning it was time to go to the Tiger temple. From the name of the place we imagined that it would be a temple where monks live surrounded by tame-ish tigers. Tourists can then go and see the tigers and have their photos taken with them. The reality is unfortunately somewhat different. On arrival you are greeted by one monk, no temple and several sleepy/drugged tigers. You are then lead around by a helper who positions you near the tiger while another helper takes photos. After everyone has had their photos taken, the tigers are lead back to their cages for the night. Everyone gets the chance if they want, to take it in turns to lead the last tiger back while more photos are taken (this was made more entertaining by the male tiger spraying while walking along and hitting an Australian girl in the mouth!). The whole thing left us feeling rather cold; the sentiment behind the temple is admirable (all of the tigers have been rescued by the monks) but it just doesn’t really come across while you are there. The situation is likely to change later this year when a new tiger island is due for completion. From the plans it looks like the circus aspect will be thankfully lost.
Our second day in Kanchanaburi was spent on a full day tour. In the morning we headed to Erawan waterfall (a 7-tiered waterfall with numerous swimming areas) and spent a few hours swimming in the pools (if it wasn’t for the numerous fish and insects all trying to take a bite out of us, it would have been even more pleasant). We then headed to a Karen village (one of Thailand’s many tribal people) for an ‘elephant trek’. Having been on an elephant before we don’t really think that a short trip round the village really counts as a trek! We did ride the elephant through the river and Debs got to feed it some bananas, so it wasn’t a total wash out. From the elephant camp we headed out to the river for a short trip on a bamboo raft. This would have been ok if the captain of our raft hadn’t crashed it into another one causing us to nearly sink. Luckily we survived the trip intact and we arrived safely, although somewhat wetter, on the bank. The final part of the tour consisted of a trip along the death railway and a brief stop to see the famous/infamous bridge. The train journey was a pleasant end to the day, but the view of the railway from outside the train is definitely more impressive. The bridge is to be perfectly honest, just a bridge, but the setting and its history make it somewhat more impressive. After taking a few photos and walking across the bridge it was time for the tour to end and us to head back to our guesthouse.
Finding the tours to be not to our liking, we decided to forgo any more and instead just have a look around the area ourselves. We hired two pushbikes and cycled down to the JEATH war museum (an acronym of every countries name that was involved in the building of the railway: Japan, England, Australia, Thailand and Holland). The JEATH is an open air museum set up to recreate a realistic prisoner of war hut. Inside the hut are displayed many photos, POW testimonies (including newspaper cuttings from around the world), and some paintings and drawings done by inmates. The whole museum gives an interesting although somewhat unconventional account of the events that occurred during 1942-1943. Next door to the JEATH, we had a short look around Wat Chaichumphon Chanasongkhram and then headed back on our bikes to the ‘Thailand-Burma Railway Centre’. The railway centre is a very professional and interesting museum that gives an excellent portrayal of the hardships and horrors faced by the POW’s while building the Thailand-Burma railway. Leaving the museum we made a short stop at Donrak war cemetery and then headed back up towards the ‘Kwai Bridge’ for a final look around.
Kanchanaburi had been a pleasant enough place to stay, but it was time to head back to Bangkok, as we had a Visa run to Cambodia planned and Debs’ friend Sarah was due to arrive within the next few days.
Next Bangkok, Cambodia and Phuket.
Thursday, 26 April 2007
Tuesday, 24 April 2007
Life as a mahout by Debs
Friday 16th – Sunday 18th March 2007
When I saw the three day mahout (elephant trainer) course advertised at Lampang Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, I just knew that I would love it and booked myself on the course. I was so excited that I barely slept the night before! Finally the big day had arrived and I was on my way to the conservation centre I met Kat from Australia, a fellow mahout as we arrived at the centre; it turned out that we were sharing a room which was good. Also on our course were Marly and Chantal from Holland, as well as a Japanese family. We all put on our ‘mahout suits’ and headed to the showground to meet our elephants!
9.00am - My elephant was called Look-Khang; a 15 year old female Asian elephant. She was so beautiful and huge!! I was awe struck by her and couldn’t wait to start our training together. Soon enough, we were completely thrown in at the deep end! Having only just been given the elephant command words list, I hadn’t quite mastered them (!) so I didn’t really follow what my mahout, Kit was saying. Ho hum. Lots of getting on and off via Look-Khang’s right leg = a very long way up and down! We also practised sliding off the front of her head and jumping back on - I made the jump most times! It felt amazing to be a mahout; sitting behind her huge head I was having an absolute blast!
9.45am - Next, we all plodded down to the river for elephant bathing. Had a hilarious time splashing about and spraying the others using Look-Khang’s trunk!! It was a bit scary when she put her head right under and I nearly slipped off – my mahout saved me though.
10.00am - After bathing our elephants, we moved to the showground in a long line with the elephants holding the tail of the one in front – cute! We paraded into the showground and the Look-Khang stopped 2nd from the right – she did all this all by herself = a well trained elephant! In turn, the elephants bowed (!) when their name was introduced. Then, we had to show the crowd what we had learnt on our mahout course! Hang on a minute; we only got on our elephants for the first time an hour ago! We had to do various movements including: get off and on from the side; get off from the front; jump on again from the front; instruct our elephants to pick the training stick up, to sit down, to sit on belly and finally to lie down. We did all this with no problems and the crowd seemed impressed With our part in the show over, we sat back and watched the elephants do their thing with their mahouts. They are amazingly agile animals considering how huge they are, as well as being immensely strong and intelligent. The show demonstrated these skills in various ways including: ‘tightrope’ walking on a narrow log; turning a tap on and off; painting (Look-Khang did an abstract painting!); and pulling large logs then pilling them up using their trunks. All very impressive stuff.
11.00am - We visited a teeny (100kg!) elephant bay that was only 9 days old!! It was very cute. Its mother had tried to attack it at birth so the centre separated them. It is now being nursed by a step mum elephant, as she still had milk. Also, because the King of Thailand is 80 years old this year, he will name the baby elephant! Next we went to the elephant hospital where lots of injured and sick elephants were being cared for. It was interesting to see, though what kind of life to they have? Very difficult to say.
12.00pm - Lunchtime! Great food. Getting on really well with the 3 girls –we make a good team I am very glad to share this amazing experience with them; the mahout course that is, not lunch!
1.15pm - Back to the bathing area for more fun and frolics in the water. We learnt how to instruct our elephants to suck up water in their trunks and to then allow us to point their trunks wherever we wanted – such a good time and was totally soaked!
1.30pm - Showtime again. Identical to the first show, but as it was extremely hot and I was very tired, it was more difficult to jump on Look-Khang’s head – my mahout had to give me a push!
2.30pm - Time to take our elephants to the jungle for the night. It wasn’t very far to Look-Khang’s place, so she was soon munching on the sugarcane I had carried for her. Night night Look-Khang!
3pm – Checked into our home-stay accommodation – basic but clean. Had a much needed shower and then slept.
7pm – Dinner time; so hungry after an exhausting, but thoroughly enjoyable first day.
8pm – When I saw ‘8pm sleeping time’ on our course schedule, I thought it was ridiculously early. However, I was more tired than I have ever been and was asleep as my head hit the pillow at 8pm!!
Day 2:
6am!! Up and dressed in our mahout suits ready for the day. We went to the jungle to collect our elephants. Morning Look-Khang! She seemed pleased to see me or maybe that was because I had food? I would like to believe the former!! I got on by her right leg and we set off for the stables. I was a bit uncomfortable because all my muscles were screaming in protest! We ambled back to the camp, stopping at various succulent sugarcanes – yum!
7am – We gave Look-Khang a quick hose down; she loved it. She then held the hose in her mouth and drank thirstily – very cute While this was happening, I was being interviewed for Poland Playboy – I kid you not!
7.30am – Breakfast. We then had free time until our training session.
The schedule on day 2 was the same as on day 1. However, our training sessions and shows were much more productive today, as I had memorised the ‘elephant command’ words, so I was much more involved. I loved it! Elephant bathing remained my favourite activity – got completely soaked but I didn’t care!
Day 3:
6am – Up and dressed ready for the day ahead, but OUCH do I ache?!!
6.30am – Sawadee ka Look-Khang! I gave her the sugarcane I had carried to the jungle – munch munch. I got up onto her neck, while she was eating her breakfast. All this time, a Korean TV crew were filming us! Then, they interviewed me whilst I was sitting up on Look-Khang! May I introduce ‘Debs the mahout’ and her elephant Look-Khang! ;) It is a shame that I will never see the documentary.
8.30am – Matt arrived at the elephant centre!
9am – My last training session and it went really well Matt seemed impressed by what I was doing. I remembered and used all of the elephant command words!!
9.45am – Down to the bathing pool for the last time – had a blast
10am – Our last show and we all did our best and really it showed how much we had progressed since day 1. I have definitely improved in confidence and ability since I joined the course.
10.45am – My mahout presented me with my course completion certificate and a tiny elephant controlling stick. I gave Look-Khang lots of hugs on her trunk. It was a very emotional goodbye.
WOW! What an amazing course and seriously one of the best experiences of my life! I felt totally alive and happy I love elephants and this has only strengthened that love further. The course was wonderful; a life changing experience which I will never forget.
I would recommend the course to anyone – go for it; you will love it!!
Information on Lampang Thai Elephant Conservation Centre at http://www.changthai.com/
When I saw the three day mahout (elephant trainer) course advertised at Lampang Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, I just knew that I would love it and booked myself on the course. I was so excited that I barely slept the night before! Finally the big day had arrived and I was on my way to the conservation centre I met Kat from Australia, a fellow mahout as we arrived at the centre; it turned out that we were sharing a room which was good. Also on our course were Marly and Chantal from Holland, as well as a Japanese family. We all put on our ‘mahout suits’ and headed to the showground to meet our elephants!
9.00am - My elephant was called Look-Khang; a 15 year old female Asian elephant. She was so beautiful and huge!! I was awe struck by her and couldn’t wait to start our training together. Soon enough, we were completely thrown in at the deep end! Having only just been given the elephant command words list, I hadn’t quite mastered them (!) so I didn’t really follow what my mahout, Kit was saying. Ho hum. Lots of getting on and off via Look-Khang’s right leg = a very long way up and down! We also practised sliding off the front of her head and jumping back on - I made the jump most times! It felt amazing to be a mahout; sitting behind her huge head I was having an absolute blast!
9.45am - Next, we all plodded down to the river for elephant bathing. Had a hilarious time splashing about and spraying the others using Look-Khang’s trunk!! It was a bit scary when she put her head right under and I nearly slipped off – my mahout saved me though.
10.00am - After bathing our elephants, we moved to the showground in a long line with the elephants holding the tail of the one in front – cute! We paraded into the showground and the Look-Khang stopped 2nd from the right – she did all this all by herself = a well trained elephant! In turn, the elephants bowed (!) when their name was introduced. Then, we had to show the crowd what we had learnt on our mahout course! Hang on a minute; we only got on our elephants for the first time an hour ago! We had to do various movements including: get off and on from the side; get off from the front; jump on again from the front; instruct our elephants to pick the training stick up, to sit down, to sit on belly and finally to lie down. We did all this with no problems and the crowd seemed impressed With our part in the show over, we sat back and watched the elephants do their thing with their mahouts. They are amazingly agile animals considering how huge they are, as well as being immensely strong and intelligent. The show demonstrated these skills in various ways including: ‘tightrope’ walking on a narrow log; turning a tap on and off; painting (Look-Khang did an abstract painting!); and pulling large logs then pilling them up using their trunks. All very impressive stuff.
11.00am - We visited a teeny (100kg!) elephant bay that was only 9 days old!! It was very cute. Its mother had tried to attack it at birth so the centre separated them. It is now being nursed by a step mum elephant, as she still had milk. Also, because the King of Thailand is 80 years old this year, he will name the baby elephant! Next we went to the elephant hospital where lots of injured and sick elephants were being cared for. It was interesting to see, though what kind of life to they have? Very difficult to say.
12.00pm - Lunchtime! Great food. Getting on really well with the 3 girls –we make a good team I am very glad to share this amazing experience with them; the mahout course that is, not lunch!
1.15pm - Back to the bathing area for more fun and frolics in the water. We learnt how to instruct our elephants to suck up water in their trunks and to then allow us to point their trunks wherever we wanted – such a good time and was totally soaked!
1.30pm - Showtime again. Identical to the first show, but as it was extremely hot and I was very tired, it was more difficult to jump on Look-Khang’s head – my mahout had to give me a push!
2.30pm - Time to take our elephants to the jungle for the night. It wasn’t very far to Look-Khang’s place, so she was soon munching on the sugarcane I had carried for her. Night night Look-Khang!
3pm – Checked into our home-stay accommodation – basic but clean. Had a much needed shower and then slept.
7pm – Dinner time; so hungry after an exhausting, but thoroughly enjoyable first day.
8pm – When I saw ‘8pm sleeping time’ on our course schedule, I thought it was ridiculously early. However, I was more tired than I have ever been and was asleep as my head hit the pillow at 8pm!!
Day 2:
6am!! Up and dressed in our mahout suits ready for the day. We went to the jungle to collect our elephants. Morning Look-Khang! She seemed pleased to see me or maybe that was because I had food? I would like to believe the former!! I got on by her right leg and we set off for the stables. I was a bit uncomfortable because all my muscles were screaming in protest! We ambled back to the camp, stopping at various succulent sugarcanes – yum!
7am – We gave Look-Khang a quick hose down; she loved it. She then held the hose in her mouth and drank thirstily – very cute While this was happening, I was being interviewed for Poland Playboy – I kid you not!
7.30am – Breakfast. We then had free time until our training session.
The schedule on day 2 was the same as on day 1. However, our training sessions and shows were much more productive today, as I had memorised the ‘elephant command’ words, so I was much more involved. I loved it! Elephant bathing remained my favourite activity – got completely soaked but I didn’t care!
Day 3:
6am – Up and dressed ready for the day ahead, but OUCH do I ache?!!
6.30am – Sawadee ka Look-Khang! I gave her the sugarcane I had carried to the jungle – munch munch. I got up onto her neck, while she was eating her breakfast. All this time, a Korean TV crew were filming us! Then, they interviewed me whilst I was sitting up on Look-Khang! May I introduce ‘Debs the mahout’ and her elephant Look-Khang! ;) It is a shame that I will never see the documentary.
8.30am – Matt arrived at the elephant centre!
9am – My last training session and it went really well Matt seemed impressed by what I was doing. I remembered and used all of the elephant command words!!
9.45am – Down to the bathing pool for the last time – had a blast
10am – Our last show and we all did our best and really it showed how much we had progressed since day 1. I have definitely improved in confidence and ability since I joined the course.
10.45am – My mahout presented me with my course completion certificate and a tiny elephant controlling stick. I gave Look-Khang lots of hugs on her trunk. It was a very emotional goodbye.
WOW! What an amazing course and seriously one of the best experiences of my life! I felt totally alive and happy I love elephants and this has only strengthened that love further. The course was wonderful; a life changing experience which I will never forget.
I would recommend the course to anyone – go for it; you will love it!!
Information on Lampang Thai Elephant Conservation Centre at http://www.changthai.com/
Monday, 23 April 2007
Sawadee ka from Thailand!
After a somewhat long journey from Japan, we finally arrived in Bangkok (via Singapore: don’t ask, flight routing baffles me) and set off from the airport to the ‘New Siam 2’ guesthouse. Fortunately the expressway from the new airport to the city centre is now finished, which certainly makes the journey quicker, not to mention cheaper! If the taxi driver had actually known where our hotel was, it would have been even better. Oh well, welcome back to Bangkok!
Still suffering from the excesses of Japan, we decided to use our time in Bangkok to organise where we were going next and to rest up (possibly the only time you will here someone say, they went to Bangkok for a rest!); not to mention acclimatise (we arrived in Thailand with the temperatures hitting the 40 degree mark). So aside from some shopping (I managed to buy the camera lens that I was after in Japan), some eating and a very little drinking, there isn’t much to tell. Ooops! Nearly forgot, we had new tattoos done (Stuart has won the hawk eye award, as he has already managed to spot mine in the photos).
Fully rested and recuperated, we headed to Khao Yai national park, 120kms east of Bangkok. Staying at the ‘Khao Yai Garden Lodge’ we booked on a one and a half day tour of the park, which included a 3 hour trek through the jungle (fortunately it is a bit cooler here). The tour turned out to be excellent; we had a brilliant guide by the name of Mister ‘A’ who proved to be an amazing wildlife spotter. How he managed to see some of the animals is quite beyond me, with the aid of his spotting scope we were all able to get a close up view of the wildlife (with a compact digital camera you can take a picture through the scope, which has given Debs some photos that she never would have been able to take). During the course of our first day we saw: White Handed Gibbons, several Great Hornbills (including one in flight), a monitor lizard, 15 wild elephants (apparently we were very lucky to see this many together), emerald doves, lots of macaques, a giant squirrel, a snake (can’t remember what kind) and the waterfall where ‘Sprout faced boy’ jumped off in the film ‘The Beach’.
On the second day, we visited a large cave full of wrinkle-lipped bats and then had the amazing experience of watching them all take to the skies in big swarms, while eagles circled overhead waiting to pick any stragglers off. Our guide estimated that at least a million of them leave the cave every evening in search of food and return by morning.
Having had a great time at the national park, we headed back to Bangkok for one day (this time to the old favourite D&D Inn), before leaving the next day by overnight train to Chiang Mai. From Chiang Mai, Debs was heading to Lampang and the ‘Thai Elephant Conservation Centre’ for three days to do her Mahout (elephant handler) course (more about this later in Debs’ life as a mahout blog), while I did the sightseeing bit around the city.
Chiang Mai, for Thailand’s second biggest city remains very laid back and village like. I had an enjoyable few days just wandering around the old city looking at wats (temples), museums and markets; while trying to avoid the many ‘tuk tuk’ drivers who were keen to take me on a sightseeing/shopping trip.
Still suffering from the excesses of Japan, we decided to use our time in Bangkok to organise where we were going next and to rest up (possibly the only time you will here someone say, they went to Bangkok for a rest!); not to mention acclimatise (we arrived in Thailand with the temperatures hitting the 40 degree mark). So aside from some shopping (I managed to buy the camera lens that I was after in Japan), some eating and a very little drinking, there isn’t much to tell. Ooops! Nearly forgot, we had new tattoos done (Stuart has won the hawk eye award, as he has already managed to spot mine in the photos).
Fully rested and recuperated, we headed to Khao Yai national park, 120kms east of Bangkok. Staying at the ‘Khao Yai Garden Lodge’ we booked on a one and a half day tour of the park, which included a 3 hour trek through the jungle (fortunately it is a bit cooler here). The tour turned out to be excellent; we had a brilliant guide by the name of Mister ‘A’ who proved to be an amazing wildlife spotter. How he managed to see some of the animals is quite beyond me, with the aid of his spotting scope we were all able to get a close up view of the wildlife (with a compact digital camera you can take a picture through the scope, which has given Debs some photos that she never would have been able to take). During the course of our first day we saw: White Handed Gibbons, several Great Hornbills (including one in flight), a monitor lizard, 15 wild elephants (apparently we were very lucky to see this many together), emerald doves, lots of macaques, a giant squirrel, a snake (can’t remember what kind) and the waterfall where ‘Sprout faced boy’ jumped off in the film ‘The Beach’.
On the second day, we visited a large cave full of wrinkle-lipped bats and then had the amazing experience of watching them all take to the skies in big swarms, while eagles circled overhead waiting to pick any stragglers off. Our guide estimated that at least a million of them leave the cave every evening in search of food and return by morning.
Having had a great time at the national park, we headed back to Bangkok for one day (this time to the old favourite D&D Inn), before leaving the next day by overnight train to Chiang Mai. From Chiang Mai, Debs was heading to Lampang and the ‘Thai Elephant Conservation Centre’ for three days to do her Mahout (elephant handler) course (more about this later in Debs’ life as a mahout blog), while I did the sightseeing bit around the city.
Chiang Mai, for Thailand’s second biggest city remains very laid back and village like. I had an enjoyable few days just wandering around the old city looking at wats (temples), museums and markets; while trying to avoid the many ‘tuk tuk’ drivers who were keen to take me on a sightseeing/shopping trip.
The three days went very quickly and it was soon time to go to the elephant centre, to watch Debs and her elephant take part in a show. On arrival at the camp, Debs was already waiting for me dressed in her mahout suit ready for the mornings’ elephant training. She seemed to have had a really good bunch of people on the course with her and had obviously had an amazing time (the huge grin that she was permanently wearing was a bit of a give away!). It was really good to watch her and the others putting their elephants through their paces, and the elephant bath that followed training was done to the accompaniment of much laughter as they set about getting each other as wet as possible. The show itself was very good and demonstrated the enormous strength, balance and agility of these huge animals (the elephants that is; not the mahouts, they were all tiny!). Debs and her elephant ‘Look-Khang’ even had a star part in the show, when Look-Khang carried and placed a hat on her head! After the show it was time to have a final look around the camp, say goodbye to the elephants and mahouts, buy a picture painted by Debs’ elephant and then board the bus heading back to Chiang Mai.
Later that evening we met Kat (one of Debs’ fellow mahout trainees) for a few beers and had a brief look round a nice outdoor craft market. Due to the trains being full, our planned stay in Chiang Mai, of another two days, got cut short. With only one day left, we used it to have a final look round the town and visit the excellent night market (an absolute must if you find yourself in Chiang Mai, if only for the food hall where we had the best and cheapest meal we have had in Thailand). After a lazy morning trying not to overheat, we boarded the sleeper train back to Bangkok and settled in for the journey. I would love to say that it was a restful journey, but the train was really noisy, slow and swayed a lot, (not helped by being in a carriage full of a loud French tour party, who all seemed to think that a ‘no smoking’ sign didn’t apply to them!) I arrived in Bangkok somewhat bleary eyed! Debs on the other hand, had taken a sleeping pill and had slept comparatively well.
Next: Debs’ life as a mahout blog
Sunday, 8 April 2007
A final thanks and farewell
Just a quick note to all those who have made our time in Japan so memorable:
Pippa: thanks for putting us up and showing us around, you are a star! Good luck with the Masters, we will definately be seeing you back in the UK.
Amika: It was great to meet you. We will see you again sometime. Maybe in the UK?
Miwa & Gaku: It was good to see you again, stay in touch. Until next time take care.
Emma & Tomo: You made our trip to Hiroshima a lot of fun. Take care and see you again!
Asami: Thanks for all the organising and making our stay in Kokura memorable. Hopefully we will see you in America later this year.
Abi: Nice to meet you and good luck in Tokyo!
Neil: Shame we didnt get to see more of you. You are a top bloke! Hope the move back to the UK is not too painful!
Koji & Staff at OCM: Top sandwiches!
Noriko & Mother: Hopefully you get your dream to play at the winter olympics. Thanks for a lovely lunch and memorable day!
Rie, Keiko, Nao, Mayumi, Mie, Ryuichi (Oisan), Yuki and Hisako:You all made us feel very welcome, we will definately see you all again. Take care and stay in touch.
Until next time, to you all
Domo arigato gozaimasu!
Pippa: thanks for putting us up and showing us around, you are a star! Good luck with the Masters, we will definately be seeing you back in the UK.
Amika: It was great to meet you. We will see you again sometime. Maybe in the UK?
Miwa & Gaku: It was good to see you again, stay in touch. Until next time take care.
Emma & Tomo: You made our trip to Hiroshima a lot of fun. Take care and see you again!
Asami: Thanks for all the organising and making our stay in Kokura memorable. Hopefully we will see you in America later this year.
Abi: Nice to meet you and good luck in Tokyo!
Neil: Shame we didnt get to see more of you. You are a top bloke! Hope the move back to the UK is not too painful!
Koji & Staff at OCM: Top sandwiches!
Noriko & Mother: Hopefully you get your dream to play at the winter olympics. Thanks for a lovely lunch and memorable day!
Rie, Keiko, Nao, Mayumi, Mie, Ryuichi (Oisan), Yuki and Hisako:You all made us feel very welcome, we will definately see you all again. Take care and stay in touch.
Until next time, to you all
Domo arigato gozaimasu!
Kokura, Beppu & back to Kokura.
After 26 very enjoyable days in Japan, we finally arrived back in Debs’ old home of Kokura at 11:30am. We were met at the train station by Debs’ friend Asami and immediately set off to drop our luggage at the ‘Toyoko Inn’ hotel. Unfortunately we encountered the slight hitch that we couldn’t check in until 4pm! Leaving our luggage at reception, we headed off for some lunch at Debs’ favourite food place OCM ‘Sandwich Factory’ (she frequented the place so much they gave her a T-shirt when she left Japan! Oops apparently it was 2 T-shirts). The staff were all very surprised to see her again, even remembering her old order! After some very nice sandwiches & salad and a brief chat with Koji (OCM’S owner), we continued our tour of Kokura. Sadly, the city’s main landmark Kokura castle was covered in scaffolding (what is it with us and scaffolding? Everywhere we go seems to be covered in the stuff! I had already renamed Beijing’s Forbidden City the ‘Scaffolding; sadly not forbidden, city’!)
From first impressions Kokura seems a very pleasant city with nice shops, (I got to see quite a lot of these bag shopping with Debs & Asami), pleasant parks and some interesting looking modern buildings. It also has an excellent book shop ‘Quest books’ that carries a number of western titles. Happily stocked up in books and bags, we headed back to the hotel to finally check in and rest up until the evening.
Asami had managed to get hold of a lot of Debs’ old friends and arrange a welcome back meal at the Maroon bar. We were joined by Asami, Keiko, Nao, Rie, Abi & Hiro; it was good to finally meet some of the people who I had heard about from Debs. After a pleasant meal Asami, Rie, Nao, Debs and I headed off to Print Club & Karaoke, the others having to go because of work the next day. Having decided that Print Club is really a girl’s thing, I left them to it and had a look around the arcade instead. I tried my hand at an arcade brain training game that looked simple enough; however it turned out that some form of Japanese language ability would be required to navigate the menu system, so I failed miserably. Perhaps that was all part of the brain training!
Rejoining the girls, who had finished doctoring their photos, we headed upstairs to the Karaoke rooms. Karaoke in Japan is a little different from the ‘guy set up in the corner of the pub’ back home. Basically you can hire a private room for a period of time at a fixed price. You can then drink as much as you like during that time. After 2 hours of singing our hearts out and getting steadily more drunk, we called it a night at 2am. Saying goodbye to the others, we headed back to our hotel for some much needed sleep.
Trying to get the most out of our trusty rail passes before they expired, we headed to Fukuoka ‘Hard Rock Café’ with Asami so Debs could have a Veggie burger! The trip was made more memorable by the fact that I spotted an entire car park full of yellow cars (email me & I will explain!). After a nice meal, Debs & Asami showed their talents for playing the drums (Debs claims that Asami practises!) at the nearby Game Centre (arcade), before we headed back to Kokura.
Leaving Kokura behind for a few days we headed to Beppu, where we had booked to stay at a lovely Ryokan (traditional guesthouse). Beppu is famous for its many Onsens (Japanese hot springs) and sand baths. I have to confess to not being certain about being buried in hot sand. The sign on the wall said that we would be filled with energy, ready to face the day ahead. Instead, after being buried, showering and relaxing in the Onsen we both just wanted to go to sleep! Heading back to the Ryokan, Debs arranged to try on a traditional wedding outfit and we booked to use the guesthouses Onsen privately. All in all we had a very relaxing time.
Arriving back in Kokura all rested, we checked back into the Toyoko Inn (this time we didn’t have to wait until 4pm) for the final leg of our stay. Later that evening we met Abi & Neil for drinks at the ‘Beer station’ followed by food at the ‘Baseball Yakatori’.
The next day we were invited to Noriko’s house, where her Mother prepared a lovely meal for us and the members of her Ikebana class (Japanese flower arranging). Noriko is a music teacher and very talented hand bells and piano player. We had a very entertaining afternoon meeting her 2 year old child prodigy student Maria, getting dressed up in Yukatas (summer Kimonos) by her mother for Hina-matsuri (Japanese doll festival or Girls’ day), seeing no flower arranging by her class but hearing a lot of chatter and finally watching a very impressive hand bells demonstration by Noriko.
Later that evening we met Asami & Mayumi for more drinks & food at the ‘Beer Station’ and then finally headed back to the hotel shattered.
With only 2 days left in Japan, we arranged to meet Rie for lunch on Saturday at OCM and Mie, Ryuichi (Oisan), Yuki, Hisako & Noriko for drinks and food at ‘Xelhas’. We had a great evening and again it was good to meet some more of Debs’ students and friends. Our whole time in Kokura has been great but also very tiring. Trying to arrange times to meet everyone and then realising that there is always someone who you manage to miss has given us mixed emotions about leaving. All in all though, it has been an amazing experience and we will definitely be returning.
Until next time from Japan “Ja ne” (See you!)
From first impressions Kokura seems a very pleasant city with nice shops, (I got to see quite a lot of these bag shopping with Debs & Asami), pleasant parks and some interesting looking modern buildings. It also has an excellent book shop ‘Quest books’ that carries a number of western titles. Happily stocked up in books and bags, we headed back to the hotel to finally check in and rest up until the evening.
Asami had managed to get hold of a lot of Debs’ old friends and arrange a welcome back meal at the Maroon bar. We were joined by Asami, Keiko, Nao, Rie, Abi & Hiro; it was good to finally meet some of the people who I had heard about from Debs. After a pleasant meal Asami, Rie, Nao, Debs and I headed off to Print Club & Karaoke, the others having to go because of work the next day. Having decided that Print Club is really a girl’s thing, I left them to it and had a look around the arcade instead. I tried my hand at an arcade brain training game that looked simple enough; however it turned out that some form of Japanese language ability would be required to navigate the menu system, so I failed miserably. Perhaps that was all part of the brain training!
Rejoining the girls, who had finished doctoring their photos, we headed upstairs to the Karaoke rooms. Karaoke in Japan is a little different from the ‘guy set up in the corner of the pub’ back home. Basically you can hire a private room for a period of time at a fixed price. You can then drink as much as you like during that time. After 2 hours of singing our hearts out and getting steadily more drunk, we called it a night at 2am. Saying goodbye to the others, we headed back to our hotel for some much needed sleep.
Trying to get the most out of our trusty rail passes before they expired, we headed to Fukuoka ‘Hard Rock Café’ with Asami so Debs could have a Veggie burger! The trip was made more memorable by the fact that I spotted an entire car park full of yellow cars (email me & I will explain!). After a nice meal, Debs & Asami showed their talents for playing the drums (Debs claims that Asami practises!) at the nearby Game Centre (arcade), before we headed back to Kokura.
Leaving Kokura behind for a few days we headed to Beppu, where we had booked to stay at a lovely Ryokan (traditional guesthouse). Beppu is famous for its many Onsens (Japanese hot springs) and sand baths. I have to confess to not being certain about being buried in hot sand. The sign on the wall said that we would be filled with energy, ready to face the day ahead. Instead, after being buried, showering and relaxing in the Onsen we both just wanted to go to sleep! Heading back to the Ryokan, Debs arranged to try on a traditional wedding outfit and we booked to use the guesthouses Onsen privately. All in all we had a very relaxing time.
Arriving back in Kokura all rested, we checked back into the Toyoko Inn (this time we didn’t have to wait until 4pm) for the final leg of our stay. Later that evening we met Abi & Neil for drinks at the ‘Beer station’ followed by food at the ‘Baseball Yakatori’.
The next day we were invited to Noriko’s house, where her Mother prepared a lovely meal for us and the members of her Ikebana class (Japanese flower arranging). Noriko is a music teacher and very talented hand bells and piano player. We had a very entertaining afternoon meeting her 2 year old child prodigy student Maria, getting dressed up in Yukatas (summer Kimonos) by her mother for Hina-matsuri (Japanese doll festival or Girls’ day), seeing no flower arranging by her class but hearing a lot of chatter and finally watching a very impressive hand bells demonstration by Noriko.
Later that evening we met Asami & Mayumi for more drinks & food at the ‘Beer Station’ and then finally headed back to the hotel shattered.
With only 2 days left in Japan, we arranged to meet Rie for lunch on Saturday at OCM and Mie, Ryuichi (Oisan), Yuki, Hisako & Noriko for drinks and food at ‘Xelhas’. We had a great evening and again it was good to meet some more of Debs’ students and friends. Our whole time in Kokura has been great but also very tiring. Trying to arrange times to meet everyone and then realising that there is always someone who you manage to miss has given us mixed emotions about leaving. All in all though, it has been an amazing experience and we will definitely be returning.
Until next time from Japan “Ja ne” (See you!)
Thursday, 29 March 2007
Hiroshima
Hi all
After a great time in Kyoto, we made the short trip to Hiroshima by train. On arrival we took the excellent tram service to J-Hoppers Hostel, where we had booked a very nice Japanese room complete with tatami mats and futons.
Still suffering from too many nights out, we gave the sightseeing a miss for the rest of the day, preferring to start fresh tomorrow. J-Hoppers was not up to the standard of K’s House in Kyoto, but was still very pleasant and the people running it seemed very helpful. Plus we could cook again, which makes a change from eating out every night!
Setting out reasonably early the next day (obviously not too early, we didn’t want to tax ourselves!), we headed to the ‘Peace Memorial Park’ following the ‘Promenade of Peace’. Our first stop was the now called ‘A-bomb Dome’, the former old Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. This building was effectively ground zero when the bomb exploded 600m above at 8:15am on 6th August 1945 and has been preserved as a monument to that event. The crumbling remains and still visible steel dome are a strangely beautiful testimony to one of history’s more terrible moments.
From here, we walked through the Peace Park to the ‘Children’s Peace Monument’ where hundreds of thousands of paper cranes are on display. The ‘Paper Cranes’ created by children throughout Japan and the rest of the world, continue a tradition started by Sasaki Sadako. Upon falling ill with leukaemia in 1955 when she was only 12 years old, she started folding them believing that if she reached 1000 she would be cured. She died shortly before reaching her total and as a mark of respect, her classmates completed the task. Since then, paper cranes have been donated continuously and a monument to her was erected.
Following on from here, we passed the ‘Memorial Cenotaph’ which holds a stone coffin bearing the names of all those direct and indirect victims of the A-bomb blast (140,000 and still rising). It is from here that 100s of white doves are released every year on 6th August. Beside the monument sits the ‘Flame of Peace’ that will burn continually until the last nuclear weapon on earth is destroyed. The ‘Peace Memorial Museum’ itself, is an extremely moving and unbiased account of what actually took place and where the world stands when it comes to Nuclear disarmament (Sadly not much further along than it was after the war, just with more powerful weapons). Some of the many interesting objects housed in the museum are, a wristwatch permanently frozen at 8:15am, a clock that shows the number of days since the first dropping of the A-bomb and the days since the last atomic test (currently standing at 22841 and 137 days respectively) and copies of countless telegrams that are written by the Hiroshima government to the offending country every time a nuclear test is carried out.
It would be easy to think that all of the sites add up to a very depressing experience. Whilst they are extremely sobering, there is no attempt to apportion blame; instead Hiroshima stands as a truly beautiful city that has come largely to terms with the events of 1945 and now stands as a testament to the strength of human beings to triumph over adversity.
After a final look around the peace park we headed off on foot towards the ‘Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art’. Where there is as it turns out, a not particularly interesting outdoor sculpture park and a very nice Manga library (if you read Japanese!).
Feeling slightly under whelmed we headed back towards the city centre, stopping to look at the ‘Memorial Cathedral’ on the way to ‘Hiroshima Prefectural Art museum’ and its attached Shukkeien garden (very pleasant and peaceful). The gallery itself while not very big contains Salvador Dali’s ‘Dreams of Venus’ and works by Hirayama Ikuo, although sadly not his ‘Holocaust at Hiroshima’. Unfortunately for us the painting is on 3 month rotation and will be shown later in the year to coincide with the anniversary of the A-bomb drop. The museum brought our sightseeing nicely to a close for the day, so boarding a tram we headed back to the Hostel.
We had arranged to meet Debbie’s old work colleague Emma, later that evening at the ‘The Shack’ (a westerner favourite bar & grill) to catch up and get some food. Deciding that ‘the Shack’ was too busy, having seemingly been taken over by loads of western children we headed off to have Okonomiyaki (a kind of Japanese savoury pancake cooked on a hot plate in front of you. It can then either be eaten straight off the hot plate or served on a plate). The food was very tasty (served Hiroshima style with noodles) and extremely filling, although the addition of fish flakes at an unknown stage in the cooking process did give it a slightly strange tang! Emma, like all of Debs’ friends that we have met in Japan, is lovely and we had a good evening chatting and catching up. We finished up at Kembys, a restaurant and bar managed by Tomo (Emma’s husband) for a few more drinks before arranging to meet again tomorrow.
Not as early as we planned and slightly hung over, we headed out to catch a train and ferry to Miyajima (an island near Hiroshima famous for inventing the rice scoop: indeed it has the world’s largest one!). The main attraction of Miyajima (if you are not a rice scoop fan. Let’s be honest who isn’t?) is its 16m high Tori gate built in 1865 that sits, depending on the tide, either in or out of the water (we had decided to go when it was in the water). Having had a good view of the Tori gate from the ferry we arrived at the dock and headed towards the main temple ‘Itsukushima-jinja’. Ten minutes of hilarity then followed, when Debs decided to feed the islands resident Deer population. Purchasing the appropriate feed from a vendor, she was immediately mobbed by deer all eager to get a tasty treat. I would have helped but I was too busy taking pictures (and laughing!). Fortunately when the food ran out so did the deer as they set off looking for someone else silly enough to feed them (this time a Japanese family and frightened child). The whole thing was like one of those dreadful (yet compelling) Satellite TV programmes called ‘When good animals go bad!’ Leaving the deer behind, we spent a pleasant few hours looking around the main shrine and town. After stopping to gaze in awe at the enormous rice scoop and watching Debs in her element when she found a ‘Hello Kitty’ shop we headed back to Hiroshima.
After a short rest we set out to meet Emma, Paddy and Dan for a curry at the local Indian (not bad! Japanese Indian restaurants aren’t quite up to the standard of British ones but they are certainly a step up from the ones in India!). An interesting point of note in Japan is, that you choose the spiciness of your Indian meal from a scale of 1-50 (quite how 22 differs from 23 I have no idea! Mild, medium, hot, very hot seems much easier!) Well fed from the Valentine’s Day special meal, we headed off to ‘Sumatra Tiger’ where Liam’s (a friend of Emma’s) band was playing. No offence to Liam, but personally I preferred the very impressive Japanese instrumental band (a bit like the Deftones or God Machine minus a singer) who were on before them. Certain members of his band looked like they would rather be elsewhere. Anyway, everyone had a good evening drinking and dancing to the bands and DJ, but when the bar ran out of beer it seemed to be a good time to move on. We finished the night off in an unknown bar, said our farewells to Emma and headed back to the hostel.
Next final entry in Japan: Kokura (Debs’ old home)
After a great time in Kyoto, we made the short trip to Hiroshima by train. On arrival we took the excellent tram service to J-Hoppers Hostel, where we had booked a very nice Japanese room complete with tatami mats and futons.
Still suffering from too many nights out, we gave the sightseeing a miss for the rest of the day, preferring to start fresh tomorrow. J-Hoppers was not up to the standard of K’s House in Kyoto, but was still very pleasant and the people running it seemed very helpful. Plus we could cook again, which makes a change from eating out every night!
Setting out reasonably early the next day (obviously not too early, we didn’t want to tax ourselves!), we headed to the ‘Peace Memorial Park’ following the ‘Promenade of Peace’. Our first stop was the now called ‘A-bomb Dome’, the former old Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. This building was effectively ground zero when the bomb exploded 600m above at 8:15am on 6th August 1945 and has been preserved as a monument to that event. The crumbling remains and still visible steel dome are a strangely beautiful testimony to one of history’s more terrible moments.
From here, we walked through the Peace Park to the ‘Children’s Peace Monument’ where hundreds of thousands of paper cranes are on display. The ‘Paper Cranes’ created by children throughout Japan and the rest of the world, continue a tradition started by Sasaki Sadako. Upon falling ill with leukaemia in 1955 when she was only 12 years old, she started folding them believing that if she reached 1000 she would be cured. She died shortly before reaching her total and as a mark of respect, her classmates completed the task. Since then, paper cranes have been donated continuously and a monument to her was erected.
Following on from here, we passed the ‘Memorial Cenotaph’ which holds a stone coffin bearing the names of all those direct and indirect victims of the A-bomb blast (140,000 and still rising). It is from here that 100s of white doves are released every year on 6th August. Beside the monument sits the ‘Flame of Peace’ that will burn continually until the last nuclear weapon on earth is destroyed. The ‘Peace Memorial Museum’ itself, is an extremely moving and unbiased account of what actually took place and where the world stands when it comes to Nuclear disarmament (Sadly not much further along than it was after the war, just with more powerful weapons). Some of the many interesting objects housed in the museum are, a wristwatch permanently frozen at 8:15am, a clock that shows the number of days since the first dropping of the A-bomb and the days since the last atomic test (currently standing at 22841 and 137 days respectively) and copies of countless telegrams that are written by the Hiroshima government to the offending country every time a nuclear test is carried out.
It would be easy to think that all of the sites add up to a very depressing experience. Whilst they are extremely sobering, there is no attempt to apportion blame; instead Hiroshima stands as a truly beautiful city that has come largely to terms with the events of 1945 and now stands as a testament to the strength of human beings to triumph over adversity.
After a final look around the peace park we headed off on foot towards the ‘Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art’. Where there is as it turns out, a not particularly interesting outdoor sculpture park and a very nice Manga library (if you read Japanese!).
Feeling slightly under whelmed we headed back towards the city centre, stopping to look at the ‘Memorial Cathedral’ on the way to ‘Hiroshima Prefectural Art museum’ and its attached Shukkeien garden (very pleasant and peaceful). The gallery itself while not very big contains Salvador Dali’s ‘Dreams of Venus’ and works by Hirayama Ikuo, although sadly not his ‘Holocaust at Hiroshima’. Unfortunately for us the painting is on 3 month rotation and will be shown later in the year to coincide with the anniversary of the A-bomb drop. The museum brought our sightseeing nicely to a close for the day, so boarding a tram we headed back to the Hostel.
We had arranged to meet Debbie’s old work colleague Emma, later that evening at the ‘The Shack’ (a westerner favourite bar & grill) to catch up and get some food. Deciding that ‘the Shack’ was too busy, having seemingly been taken over by loads of western children we headed off to have Okonomiyaki (a kind of Japanese savoury pancake cooked on a hot plate in front of you. It can then either be eaten straight off the hot plate or served on a plate). The food was very tasty (served Hiroshima style with noodles) and extremely filling, although the addition of fish flakes at an unknown stage in the cooking process did give it a slightly strange tang! Emma, like all of Debs’ friends that we have met in Japan, is lovely and we had a good evening chatting and catching up. We finished up at Kembys, a restaurant and bar managed by Tomo (Emma’s husband) for a few more drinks before arranging to meet again tomorrow.
Not as early as we planned and slightly hung over, we headed out to catch a train and ferry to Miyajima (an island near Hiroshima famous for inventing the rice scoop: indeed it has the world’s largest one!). The main attraction of Miyajima (if you are not a rice scoop fan. Let’s be honest who isn’t?) is its 16m high Tori gate built in 1865 that sits, depending on the tide, either in or out of the water (we had decided to go when it was in the water). Having had a good view of the Tori gate from the ferry we arrived at the dock and headed towards the main temple ‘Itsukushima-jinja’. Ten minutes of hilarity then followed, when Debs decided to feed the islands resident Deer population. Purchasing the appropriate feed from a vendor, she was immediately mobbed by deer all eager to get a tasty treat. I would have helped but I was too busy taking pictures (and laughing!). Fortunately when the food ran out so did the deer as they set off looking for someone else silly enough to feed them (this time a Japanese family and frightened child). The whole thing was like one of those dreadful (yet compelling) Satellite TV programmes called ‘When good animals go bad!’ Leaving the deer behind, we spent a pleasant few hours looking around the main shrine and town. After stopping to gaze in awe at the enormous rice scoop and watching Debs in her element when she found a ‘Hello Kitty’ shop we headed back to Hiroshima.
After a short rest we set out to meet Emma, Paddy and Dan for a curry at the local Indian (not bad! Japanese Indian restaurants aren’t quite up to the standard of British ones but they are certainly a step up from the ones in India!). An interesting point of note in Japan is, that you choose the spiciness of your Indian meal from a scale of 1-50 (quite how 22 differs from 23 I have no idea! Mild, medium, hot, very hot seems much easier!) Well fed from the Valentine’s Day special meal, we headed off to ‘Sumatra Tiger’ where Liam’s (a friend of Emma’s) band was playing. No offence to Liam, but personally I preferred the very impressive Japanese instrumental band (a bit like the Deftones or God Machine minus a singer) who were on before them. Certain members of his band looked like they would rather be elsewhere. Anyway, everyone had a good evening drinking and dancing to the bands and DJ, but when the bar ran out of beer it seemed to be a good time to move on. We finished the night off in an unknown bar, said our farewells to Emma and headed back to the hostel.
Next final entry in Japan: Kokura (Debs’ old home)
Friday, 2 March 2007
Kyoto
Following a relatively short trip on the Shinkansen, we arrived in Kyoto and checked into K's house hostel. This was to be our home for the next 5 nights and our first dorm room. The hostel turned out to be great, very modern and comfortable. Tired from moving around, we headed out to a convenience store for some food and Debs settled in for an early night. I had planned an early one myself, but thanks to Paul from Norwich (what are the chances?), Hinson (Dave), an Irish Bar and a well found 200yen bar (a 'Good work fella' goes to Paul) those plans were well and truly scuppered!
Anyway enough said about that. On our first full day in Kyoto we headed to the train station to catch a bus to the 'Golden Pavilion' Kinkakuji Temple (very beautiful, real gold coated building) and then headed across the city to the 'Silver Pavilion' Ginkakuji Temple (home of Debs' favourite Zen garden).
As the bus had taken ages we headed back to the hostel for a rest. Then followed another epic night out in a British pub (playing darts and eating Fish & Chips!). This time with Debs, Paul & Dave. Sorry to the people we were sharing a dorm with, but I don't think we made too much noise (apart from Ozzie at the end, they were all pretty miserable anyway!)
Attempting to make an earlier start, we headed to the train station to catch a train to Uji (home of Byodoin Temple, as featured on the back of a 10 yen coin). The temple was stunning with a very good accompanying museum. Having had a good look around, we stopped at a nearby shop so that I could try a 'green tea ice cream'. All I can say is, that it was certainly very green and that given time it would possibly grow on you, but I can't see a big market in the UK.
From here, we took the train to Fushimi Inari shrine (a quite remarkable place, where people have erected 1000's of Tori gates to make tunnels, that weave and climb up a hill). This was certainly one of the more different places we have visited on our travels and we had a good afternoon climbing up the hill between the gates.
That evening, we had arranged to meet Amika (Debs former English student from Oxford) and Miwa (Japanese girl we met travelling in Vietnam last year), who was accompanied by her boyfriend Gaku. We had a great evening catching up with them all and hope to see them again someday.
The next day we headed to Kiyomizu-dera temple and got our first look at some Geishas. The Kimonos that they were wearing were really quite beautiful, although the shoes look somewhat treacherous especially when encountering steps (see the photos). The people of Kyoto are trying to get Kiyomizu-dera temple voted for as one of the 'new wonders of the world'. It is certainly very impressive, but it may well fall a little short of that particular title! Having drank from the holy waters, we headed off to Kenninji temple to hopefully see more Geishas. There were no Geishas, but we did get to see what turned out to be one of my favourite temples. A peaceful collection of buildings, Zen gardens and a fantastic Dragon painted ceiling (picture of a dragon, not painted by a dragon!). Suffering at the hands of Kyoto's lack of a subway that actually goes anywhere and the traffic affecting the bus, we failed to get anywhere else. Instead we went to the supermarket for supplies and headed back to the hostel to cook tea and have a restful evening (this time it actually happened!).
Our final day was spent going to Ryoan-ji. This houses Japan's most famous Zen garden, consisting of 15 rocks of varying sizes set in 5 groups in such a way, that wherever you stand one rock is always concealed. Very mysterious. People come from all over to try and make sense of its meaning. Leaving here none the wiser, but quite relaxed we headed to To-ji (Japan's tallest Pagoda) to have a look at the monthly flea market. Here you can buy anything from cherry blossom trees, cheap chinese tat, religious objects, antique Kimonos and beautiful paintings. It was certainly all quite a mix, I even ended up buying some Japanese chopping knives off a very persuasive stall holder.
Escaping the crowds we boarded a bus to Gion (Kyoto's entertainment district, traditionally associated with tea houses and Geisha), where we had a brief look around Yasaka-jinja shrine, a quick coffee in Starbucks and then went to Hanamikoji-dori to try and spot some more Geisha. Hanamikoji-dori is supposedly the best place to see Geisha as they head to their appointments in the nearby tea houses. We were lucky enough to see 2, which is apparently pretty good nowadays.
Having arranged to meet Amika again, we headed back to the train station leaving the Geishas to their business. We had another very pleasant evening in a nearby Izakaya, before heading back to our hostel for our last night in Kyoto. Maybe we will see you again in England next time Amika?
Just a quick afterthought as I haven't mentioned Kyoto train station. It is a very peculiar somewhat controversial structure, full of walkways and strange angled walls. Standing on an escalator watching dozens more ascending towards the roof ahead of you, is a very strange experience. I absolutely loved it, but it may not be to everyones taste. Either way, it is certainly a talking point.
Next Hiroshima & Kokura
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