Tying up the loose ends of 2014...

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I have been rubbish this past month at keeping up to date with my blog but I have been very busy travelling and celebrating christmas/new year/my 21st. So this blog is going to cover a whole load of things I've been up to.

Nagasaki

Before leaving Fukuoka for christmas we had a field trips to Nagasaki. Nagasaki was the second city in Japan (after Hiroshima) to be hit with an atomic bomb. Our trip was an overnight one and so the first day was spent at Kyushu National Museum and at a park famous for its beautiful colours in every season. We were unlucky in that we missed seeing the Maple Leaf at their peak by about a week, however the park was still very beautiful with its perfectly round, very neatly lined bushes and its lake in the middle. Whilst we were there I saw the perfect opportunity for me to climb a tree and have a picture in it with a view of the lake behind me... apparently this is not the done thing in Japan. Its safe to say I got lots of weird stares and the coordinator of our programme wasn't best pleased haha!!

We spent the night in a traditional Japanese hotel known as a 'ryokan' which meant we were sleeping on tatami mats on the floor and there was of course an onsen!! My favourite thing about the hotel was the fact we were given yukata (like a kimono) to wear whilst we were there! After going in the onsen (we decided to go early to miss the rush which meant we had the whole thing to ourselves!) everyone went into one of the rooms and started playing drinking games. I was just about to go to bed when somehow I got persuaded to stay and drink more. I tried to leave the hotel to go to the shop next door but I was told I wasn't allowed! To a drunk Ella this was a ridiculous rule and I made sure the man on reception knew this... he ended up letting me go. So all in all, I upset a few Japanese people that day. Lets put it down to 'adjusting' haha!!

The following day we made our way to the Nagasaki Peace Museum. It was so sad reading some of the stories and seeing the horrendous damage caused by the atomic bomb. There were items on display that had been found in the wreckage, memoirs of people who had survived or who had seen the victims of the bombs as well as medical information about how the nuclear had caused damage to generations after the bombs. It was truly heartbreaking. The end of the museum was information about nuclear weapons that currently exist in the world and I was shocked to see that there are so many. After seeing the horrific effects caused by the atomic bombs dropped in Japan, you would have to be completely evil to be willing to put people through that again. If I wasnt before, I am now 1000% against nuclear weapons. Whatever the situation there is no need for them!!!

After the museum we made our way to the Peace Park which is a really nice park with monuments surrounded by bunches of flowers commemorating all those affected by the atomic bomb. Then we headed to a Chinese restaurant for lunch where we had a range of Chinese food including Champon which Nagasaki is famous for. It is a noodle dish that is inspired by Chinese cuisine. I'd had the Korean (much spicier!!) version whilst in Busan so it was interesting to try this one. I think I preferred the Korean one however as I didn't like the dried noodles in the Japanese one. Our last stop of the trip was to Glover Park which is a park inspired by the western world. It has a very dutch feel to it and for a second it feels as though you could actually be back in Europe. That is until you see the escalators to take you up the hill so you don't have to walk... only in Asia - Bristol should take note!!! My favourite thing about the park was the fish pond with huge coy carps that would come and suck your fingers if you put them in. Also, one of our professors did purikura with us which is a Japanese photobooth where it 'beautifies' you by making your eyes bigger, your cheeks pinker and allows you to add stamps. The end result was hilarious!



Christmas in Japan

I didn't actually spend christmas in Japan, I went back to the UK for a couple of days before heading to Thailand. It was so good to see all my family and friends. However I did get to experience the run up to christmas and I also learnt a lot of Japanese christmas traditions. Like with all themes, the Japanese take christmas very seriously; there are spectacular christmas lights, christmas markets and christmas songs being played everywhere. However, what I found interesting is that Christmas is a time spent with your boyfriend/girlfriend or if you don't have one then your friends and its new year that is spent with your family. Thus it is quite the opposite of the UK. Furthermore, it is tradition to have KFC for your christmas dinner apparently which I'm sure would be heavily frowned upon back home! Present buying and card giving in Japan is even more crazy than the UK. It would take too long to explain the whole cultural pattern but basically depending who you are giving to theres an expected amount you spend, Japanese gift wrapping is like a perfected art (youtube it, seriously!) and you will be forever shamed if somebody sends you a gift/card and you don't have one for them in return or even if your card/gift arrives late! They take this stuff so seriously.



New Years in Thailand

I wish I could tell you I spent my two weeks in Thailand doing lots of cultural stuff but it would be a lie. The day we were supposed to be going to the temples I got really really sick so couldn't go. However, despite this I had the best two weeks travelling Bangkok and some of South Thailand. It started with a night in Bangkok staying on Khao San Road, the backpacking party central. Our night there was spent drinking buckets, eating bugs, scorpions and frogs and being dragged to a ping pong show (we left very quickly!). The following day we made our way to Koh Samui. The white sandy beaches and crystal clear sea made this place feel like paradise. However it must be said that since the place is FULL of tourists, it has lost its traditional Thai feel and some of the bars and clubs make it seem as though you could be in at any party destination. Regardless of this I did enjoy my time there, it was good fun. I had the most amazing thai massage at one of salons on the beach (no happy ending!). We also went elephant riding and to visit a waterfall whilst we were there. I enjoyed it but I felt really bad for the elephants afterwards and kind of regretted it!

For New Years Eve we headed over to Koh Phangan, the home of the infamous full moon party. The only word I can use to describe it is carnage. The whole island is involved in the full moon party, every shop is selling buckets of alcohol all mixed with the super strong energy drinks they have out there and there are people on every street covering people in UV paint. The whole of Haad Rin beach becomes the full moon party as it gets dark and all the beach bars have their music blaring. This means that you get different music as you move along the beach which is great. On the beach there was a sign made of fire that read 'Welcome to Thailand 2014' and a number of fire breathers and dancers as well as a spectacular firework display at midnight. It was reportedly the biggest full moon party yet in terms of the number of people there which was hardly surprising since every single person I had met in Thailand in the week before had said they were going for new years eve. At the end of the night I had lost everyone other than one friend which was pretty much inevitable when there were that many people around but trying to meet up with everyone again was a nightmare. It seemed as though they closed off some of the routes to get off the beach which meant when you finally got back on to the streets you were all disorientated. It was hilarious just looking around the streets as nobody knew where they were, what they were doing or where they were going! Everyone was just wondering around covered in fluorescent paint and various pieces of ripped clothing. It was literally like something out of a movie haha! It was quite literally the craziest but best night of my life. The full moon party should be on everybody's bucket list. You have to experience the chaos at least once. You will never full understand what I am talking about unless you do.

After the craziness of new years eve we made our way to Ao Nang in Krabi which is a little further south than Koh Samui. I really loved it there. It was quieter than Chaweng Beach where we'd stayed in Koh Samui and the sorts of people there were definitely different. It definitely felt a lot more like real Thailand. We spent our time here on the beach, eating in cute little Thai restaurants and resting in our super cool jungle bungalow we were staying in! We of course had a few nights where we went out for drinks. The night life was not that great but we didn't mind considering what a mad few nights we'd had the week before. My last two nights were spent in a gorgeous 5 star hotel in Bangkok, thanks to my amazing big sister who had booked it as an early 21st birthday present! We spent our last nights eating and drinking cocktails in some of Bangkok's highest bars and restaurants and the days were spent by the rooftop pool and shopping in the malls. It was the perfect end to an incredible trip.



My birthday in Fukuoka

Since finding out I was coming to Japan for my year abroad, I had always planned to spend my 21st in Tokyo. My birthday fell on Monday 12th January but as I only got back from Thailand on 7th I thought it would be a better idea to go the weekend after. This was actually a great idea because it meant I got to celebrate my birthday in Fukuoka one weekend and then I shall be celebrating again this weekend in Tokyo!!

On Sunday night we decided to go to Happy Cock, our favourite club in Fukuoka. It was a bank holiday here in Japan (Coming of Age Day) so everywhere was pretty busy - like a bank holiday Sunday (or silly Sunday) at home. This was the first time that I have experienced running out of money and the cash machines being closed!!! Japan is run on basically cash alone, barely anywhere accepts card, yet the ATMs all have times when they are closed, so you cant take out any cash. Thus if you have no cash on you at a time when the cash points are closed then you are pretty screwed! As I was on Sunday but luckily between us we managed to scraped enough together for entry (of course including all you can drink) and for a taxi home at the end of the night. It was a hilarious night, I actually managed to speak to a couple of people in (broken) Japanese and we met some really nice american guys who kept buying me shots as soon as they saw my 21st birthday badge! I later got more free shots off the owner and then a bottle of champagne when I got a birthday shout out. Its safe to say I don't remember much else but I have some hilarious photos from the night.

I spent a lot of my actual birthday sleeping after the night out since we didn't get to bed until 6ish but then when I woke the girls made me tea in bed followed by, not one but, two of my favourite breakfasts; avocado with eggs and then pancakes. I was then given my birthday presents which consisted of a baileys cheesecake, homemade chocolate truffles, champagne, my favourite green tea and two types of cheese (for anyone that doesn't know I LOVE CHEESE). In the evening we went for Mexican in a cute little restaurant called Cantina Elborracho owned by a Japanese man who has spent two years learning to cook in Mexico. The food was really really good and my Japanese friends I invited surprised me with cute gifts and a dessert with sparklers which was really sweet of them. We had a nightmare trying to pay the bill though as they wouldn't let us split it so trying to sort out 11 people's change took forever! When we got home I cut my cake and opened my champagne. I went to bed so content and felt so lucky to have made such great friends here in so little time.




I am so incredibly excited to be going to Tokyo this weekend to celebrate my birthday some more! Watch this space for the blog.........

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