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Published: October 30th 2009
Hello family, hello friends and hello anyone else who might be reading. Finally got a chance (could be bothered) to make my first entry. Hopefully il keep it up and have a comprehensive account of what iv been up to in each place. Some of what i write might only be relevant to family, some only to friends, and some only to myself so i apologise in advance if i bore u. Here we go...
So after a 4 month spell throwing black bags and earning some cash i got packed up and headed off for my 8 month round the globe expedition. First stop was good old Glasvegas for a couple of nights out on the town . Was good to see the old uni crew again and have a blast from the past. Thanks must be extended to Blair for cooking us all a roast and to Steve for giving up his bed for me, what a guy.
From glasgow me and dave flew to london for a few days to stay with luke and his very hospitable family (also must thank them for being wonderful hosts and keeping us all very well fed...and watered...and for doing
our washing...and for running us to the airport...and for everything else). Went into the city on one of the days to see some of the sights. Took a wander round covent garden and watched some rubbish street performer "escape" from a straight jacket and chains which were falling off of him before he even started. We gave him no money and walked on. From there we headed to the south bank of the Thames to watch some good street performers. Breakdancers were awesome and the african acrobats were doin stuff with their bodies i wouldnt have thought possible. These guys got the thumbs up and some of our money was thrown their way. Walked past the london eye and big ben then headed back to lukes for his leaving party. The previous few days had taken their toll and me and dave faided early and were asleep upstairs fully clothed with the light on by midnight. On the 19th James and Craig, the final 2 members of the quintet joined the household and the excitement grew. Quite surprisingly it was lukes dad who seemed the most excited of anyone and was always saying "I cant believe what u guys are
going to be doing for the next 8 months!" Maybe he was just looking forward to having luke out the house for a bit. So finally after all the planning and organising we flew from london in search of Tokyo on the 20th. Wayhey!
My first long haul flight was a piece of cake. Its amazing how 11h 50mins can fly by (no pun intended) when youve got films to watch, food to eat and beer to drink Managed about half an hour sleep, so technically missed out on an entire nights sleep, not like me at all! Shout out to Craig for beating his fear of flying, something he really had to to as we will be covering 33,000 miles before we return next year. Good man. Got to Hong Kong left out bags at the airport and headed into the city to pass the time till we flew to tokyo the following morning. Headed to Kowloon where it dawned on us that we were acually in Asia. Very hot and very very humid. We didnt really know what we were doing so we just wandered round a park and a local market place. When the sun had
gone down we strolled down to the waterfront to look over at Hong Kong island, the sight is absolutely incredible. Skyscrapers as far as the land will allow in either direction all lit up with a steep hill just behind. All feeling hungry we looked for a cheap busy place to eat and after being served a mug of lukewarm green tea and a beer we tucked into our first ever truly authentic chinese meal. Tasty. Crashed the night in the airport hotel, probably the nicest place wel be staying in all trip. Up at 4.30am to catch tokyo flight. Not really suffering from jet lag at all which is awesome. The guy at check-in had a veeeery good look at my passport and his eyes flicked between me and my picture a few times before letting me through. Maybe its because i did such a good job of copying my passport picture face.... cheezing off my nut!
Landed in Tokyo and went through the rather strict immigration process. Had to fill out a couple of forms about our state of health, had our temperatures scanned and fingerprints and mug shots were taken. Reclaimed our luggage and had our
bags quickly checked for banned items. One security staff member had a big book of banned items that he flicked through and pointed at each picture and waited for us to pause, shake our heads and say "no". This nearly made me crack up with laughter, but luckily i managed to contain myself. Now to negotiate the Tokyo public transport network. Mams dercriptrion had planted a large seed of fear in my head, and after typing"tokyo subway" into youtube and watching 4 platform attendants ramming business men and ladies onto a seemingly impossibly full carriage it is needless to say i was quite apprehensive at the prospect. These fears thankfully failed to materialise and our hostel in north Asakusa was reached with with ease. As long as your aware of signs and what direction on the line you are travelling its very easy. On the tube there is lots of people watching to be done. First thing u notice is how private people are. No speaking, no mobile conversations. Everybody either has earphones in, is texting, working a laptop, playing a game, reading a book (with the cover covered up with paper so nobody can see what their reading) or
sleeping. how they manage to wake up for their stop will never be known. Half of them look out for the count, slouched over their briefcases with their ties flapping about their feet. On our last day we should have brought a video camera, an air horn and just let rip!
First night in Tokyo we wandered down our street to find some grub. Passed a place that was full of locals, bit the bullet and went for it. Very nice friendly atmosphere but not a word of english heard or seen until the waitress fished out a partially translated menu. We had no idea what we were doing, everything was very cheap so we ordered a few things each and ended up reordering more things as we polished off the original order. Chicken skewers, noodles, soup, nice. Back to hostel spoke to a guy who was travelling too, got some recomendations from him and went to bed.
Up at 4.30am to visit the Tsukiji Fish Market. We were told in advance to to be aware of our surroundings and this was good advice. Little motorised trolleys scooting about everywhere! Tuna auction was cool. Massive fish and lots
of shouting! We then stolled up and down some of the aisles, the sheer volume and variety of seafood here is astounding, how it all gets bought and shifted is beyond comprehension. In the afternoon we headed for Akihabara, the electric district. Greeted with massive signs and flashing lights everywhere. Being the keenest gamer of the 5 of us Craig was in his element, drawn to shops like a moth to a flame. We probably spent about an hour wandring round the first shop we went in. Lots of anime/manga paraphernalia. Action figures, cards, toys and models of anime girls in various stages of undress. Went into a couple of multi-floor gaming establishments with row upon row of flickering and beeping arcade machines lined with 13-30 year olds. it looks like is could become quite an obsession. Watched some guy get a perfect score on a drumming game and another girl taking a picture of the perfect score she got on a dance mat. But the highlight was watching Craig take on the locals at Street Fighter and showing them how its done. I tried myself but failed miserably. Got food in a basement cafe. you had to walk in
, select ur meal and pay a ticket machine then give ur order to the waitress. Me james and dave sat at a table with some locals whos chopstick skills put us to shame. Lukes dish came with a raw egg on the side which was to be beaten then poured over or bowl of meat and rice. Fair play to him, he did it, however when asked post-leaving what he thought of it he replied "Um...yeah...it was nice.......................probably would have been better without the egg though". Understandable.
Once Craig had worn his fingertips to the bone we headed back for a nap then went out near the hostel in search of sushi, one thing i promised myself i would do in tokyo. Never having tried it before and being a massive seafood fan i was very excited. Found a place, sat down and ordered 5 boards of their finest. Being experienced sushi eaters luke, james and craig fired straight in. Dave and I sniffed and poked around it for a bit before dipping the first piece in soy sauce and packing it in our mouths. It seemed sushi wasnt for us and after a few pieces dave announced, "Guys help urselves to mine, if i have any more il genuinely throw up". I did slightly better and even enjuyed a few of the pieces. Not having the face to leave half a board of uneaten food i forced some on the boys and hid some of the lesser tasty cuts of fish under the pile of ginger in the corner. As we left in search of a bar i was still rather hungry and kept burping up salmon egg gas. Our quest to find a watering hole was a complete failure and we ended up at the hostel thirsty as well. On the way back we did find one basement with a "bar" sign pointing down, we went down the stairs and listened to what sounded like a lonely japanese man singing bad karaoke to an empty room. We thought better of it, turned on our heels and ran away before anyone saw us.
Saturday morning started with a trip to Shinjuku and a visit to the two towers of the Government offices. The views would have been amazing if it wasnt such an overcast day., If it was clearer we would have been able to see mount fiji in the distance. There was some wildlife exhebition on in the viewing area. The 5 of us comendeered the origami table to follow instructions to make an elegant looking bird. It was very, very simple but Luke, however, managed to create 2 new species of stubby winged, large headed, tailless and probably flightless creatures in the space of 10 minutes.
Picked up some big delicious beers on the way back to the digs to prepare us for our night out in Rappongi. Sat and played some drinking games, laughed a lot and got ready to go. Got off the sub and went to empty our full bladders in a toilet where we found a japanese businessman lying on the floor, briefcase in hand, not moving. The laughing by-standers gave the impression he was wasted and not actually dead. Found a bar, had a couple then went to a club called Muse and boogied till 5am when the subway opens again to allow the staggering masses to get to bed. Needless to say Sunday morning was a bit of a write-off. In the evening we headed into Shibuya to check out the hustle and bustle, lots of lights on lots of really tall buildings. Decided to just grab a McDonalds to save time. Evidently the build quality of a Japanese BigMac is just as shit as it is in the UK. Spent a couple of hours just wandering about soaking up the atmosphere, Craig noted how hectic it would be to live here. Everything is just relentless, always people moving about, men in suits wander round at all times, its like "9 till 5" doesnt exist.
Monday morning awoke to the sound of rain on the window., Not being deterred by the wetness me and craig donned the waterproofs and headed for Shidome down by the waterfront to see what excitement we could find. As Tokyo is massive we thought the weather might be better when we emerged on the other side of the tube. This was not to be. We went for a walk around a really nice park and barely saw another soul. In the middle of the park we stumbled upon a little traditional tea hut selling green tea and "confectionary" for 500 yen. A bargain if ever i saw one. We were greeted by a lady in traditional dress, took our shoes off and were invited in to sit on the floor around a straw mat. We were also handed a sheet outlining the complex manner in which to eat the "cake" and drink the tea. She emerged from behind the curtain with our trays, gave us a bow and left. On the tray was what looked like a lump of play-doh and a frothy opaque bowl of dark green "tea". Following the instructions we placed the play-doh on our left hand, cut it into quarters and tucked in. Realised then that as well as looking like play-doh it had the texture and taste of it too. I forced down 2 pieces and packed the other two in my pocket (i was obviously saving them for later........NOT! lol). Now for the tea. Placed on the left palm, we turned our bowls 2 quarter turns clockwise, rubbed the area we would be drinking from and took a gulp. it tasted about as good as it looked but we both finished it (however only after strongly considering pouring it in my other pocket). By the time i reached the bottom it was cold and my last mouthful nearly came up again. Headed back to pick up the other 3 and went for a meal in Shibuya. Went to a place recommended on wikitravel (our new holy bible). We sat at the table and were handed a hilariously translated menu. I opted for the "Smoked food fish's garlic oil spaghetti" while a couple of the boys chose the "Wrapping combustion pizza of mushroom" (mushroom calzone). Nobody, however was adventurous enouigh to go for the "Littlenack clam and cream soup spaghetti of welsh onion". Shame, it sounded interesting. Again we tried looking for a bar but these are apparently these are few and far between in japan. went back to hostel instead.
So onto the final day. We had a flight to catch at 6pm so we only had about 6 hours to make the most of the clear blue skies. We opted for a visit to a nearby park which had a zoo. After taking a few pictures of people standing infront of a fountain to make them look like they were peeing in public we hired 2 rowing boats and set sail on a big green pond. Luke suggested it was where they made Mountain Dew. I suggested Luke should shut up. The others agreed with me. It was a strange feeling rowing in a park while all around u skyscrapers rose up from behind the trees. We then headed for the zoo. Very large selection of animals on display. I couldnt name an animal i didnt see....except a whale. There was everything from elephants to naked mole-rats and camelions to bushbabys. Oh and Stu there was even a slooth in a tree. It was ACE! Many of the children were more interested in the 5 of us. One little girl in particular was petrified of me. She ran and hid behind her mum when i walked over. In hindsight i should have got down on all 4's and started acting like and escaped animal. God knows what she would have done at that! Got back to the hostel and checked in online. Went up to pack and when i came back down i was greeted with the words "Craig wont be flying with us today. The muppet had booked the wrong return date and would now be spending an extra day in tokyo. I cant help but feel partly responsible as i was the one who talked him through the booking process.
So the now depleted crew set off back to Hong Kong.....
Some other general points about tokyo: Nobody is overweight, they seem to be a very trusting bunch of people, you feel very safe at all times, very untheatening place, there is a severe shortage of ATMs, temperature was perfect, there is very little english language spoken or written which means lots of gesturing and pointing, and on the second day me and craig had cereal for breakfast and our jaws were in absolute agony, we thought about it and put it down to the fact that u dont really need to chew an awful lot when eating japanese food and our jaws weren't used to chewing.
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Yvonne Smith
non-member comment
Great to hear your news
Really enjoyed reading your blog - it's great to hear all the news of your trip so far - sounds like you didn't enjoy the Japanese food too much (the play-doh and green tea sound vile) but it was really good to see the sights and sample the culture! Look forward to your next entry on the blog. Cheers Yvonne