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Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Perth
May 3rd 2013
Published: May 3rd 2013
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After 27 years I have finally made it to Australia, leaving Asia behind in the process.

For my last week in Japan I headed further west to the island of Kyushu and stayed in Fukuoka for a couple of nights. It was a nice enough city but again the hostel I stayed in was completely dead, I was the only person there on my first night. Did the usual of checking out the local park, heading to a temple/Japanese garden but I was getting fairly sick of doing the same thing in every city I went to. I was supposed to stay a third night but a couple of the Aussie guys I'd met in Kawaguchiko ended up staying in Beppu which is also in Kyushu, so I hopped on a train to go and meet them. I'm really glad I did as Beppu is a very nice small town by the sea that somewhat reminded me of Dun Laoghaire (because of the marina they had, not because it was full of junkies). Beppu is famous for its Onsen, Japanese hot springs. There are different types, some outdoor, but we only ended up in an indoor public bath type one. This involves getting naked and sitting in a large tub of hot water full of guys, what's not to like? I think some of the outdoor ones are mixed and therefore allow you to wear swimming shorts, but unfortunately with only one night there I didn't have time to see them. Went out that night with some more people we'd met in the hostel and I was definitely happier to be back on more of a backpacker route, rather than being on my own all the time.

Back to Tokyo the next day to see a couple of things I'd missed first time round. It's over 1000km from Beppu back to Tokyo but I got it done in around 7 hours. It would have been less had I gone from Fukuoka. I had an interesting conversation with a middle aged Japanese man on the train who wanted to practice his English, who spent about an hour telling me how much he hated the Koreans. To be fair he did stop briefly, but only so he could have a go at the Chinese and Americans too. He seemed to think this kind of conversation with a total stranger who was a tourist in his country was completely normal, a bit odd I thought. Had a look around Shibuya, which is the Times Square type area of Tokyo. It's the place you see in all the films that are set in Tokyo, so I was glad I got to it in the end. The next day I had to travel to Osaka, but I'd planned it so that I could take in a J-League football game on the way. Yokohama F Marinos against... I dunno, somebody else. The standard was pretty poor, worse than I expected it to be. Shinsuke Nakamura (of Celtic fame) scored a free kick from 30 yards after some of the worst goalkeeping I've ever seen. Let's just say if it happened in Italy questions would be asked. The good point about going to football in Japan though is that not only can you drink beer at your seat when you're watching the game; you can actually bring your own into the stadium with you. You wouldn't get that in the Premier League. I had to leave at half time to catch my train to Osaka, can't say I was too disappointed to be missing the second
TurtleTurtleTurtle

One of the few times the crowd died down enough for me to take a photo
half. It was 1-0 to Yokohama at half time; I believe it finished 1-1.

This was now golden week, the week where the entire country is on holiday. This makes travelling and finding somewhere to stay quite difficult, and because of this the hostel I stayed in when I was in Osaka wasn't really of the standard I was used to. They did appear to have dorms with proper beds, but these were for people who were actually living in the hostel. The few backpackers that turned up here were sleeping on mats on the floor, crammed into small rooms like some kind of refugee camp. It was also very hard to find, as it was in the middle of what appeared to be a working class residential area full of narrow streets and alleyways. If it was in any other country in the world I'd have been looking over my shoulder when I walked around there at night, but they pretty much don't have petty crime in Japan so I was safe enough. It wasn't too bad in the end, but I was happy enough to leave after two nights. Osaka is not the prettiest part of Japan, so I didn't see too much there. On my first day I went to the aquarium they have which is supposedly one of the biggest in the world. However because it was golden week the main thing on display that day was Japanese people, it was completely packed. I find it hard to believe they weren't violating some kind of fire safety regulations. They also had a pretty massive Ferris wheel at the same location; I didn't bother with it though. The next day I had a look at the Osaka castle, which is a replica of the ancient castle that used to stand there. It was built in 1939 I think, and houses a museum inside with an observation deck at the top. After this I just relaxed and waited for my flight to Hong Kong that night.

My flight to Hong Kong didn't leave until after 9pm, and I was finally leaving Hong Kong airport at 1am after I arrived. Because of this I'd booked a room in the airport hotel, which turned out to be fairly nice. I was upgraded to an executive room, and it was great to have some luxury after spending the majority
Executive RoomExecutive RoomExecutive Room

It has a desk and office chair, clearly for executives
of the past two months in a dorm, and the past two nights sleeping on the floor. I moved to my hostel in the city centre the next day and it was nice enough. There's not much to do in Hong Kong unless you're looking to spend €5000 on a watch, so I don't really have much to talk about here. It's a nice city though and definitely the most built up place I've ever been to. Tokyo was huge in area, but Hong Kong was huge in height. Went up Victoria Peak to get a good view of the city at night, but spent the rest of my two days hanging out with some of the other backpackers in the hostel. After talking to an American guy for a while we realised we'd both stayed in the same hostel in Hanoi, and done the same Ha Long bay trip, so we were chatting about our experiences there. After some more talking we realised we were there at the same time (Paddy's day) and were most likely drinking in the same small hostel bar on Paddy's night without actually meeting each other. I thought that was pretty crazy, I'm sure if I'd looked through some of his photos I'd have been there in the background somewhere. I think he may even have been on the island in Ha Long bay the night before I left. He's spent 8 month travelling and shooting film for a documentary about backpackers he's making. I was told when I got to Ha Long bay that somebody was coming tomorrow to do some filming for a documentary on backpackers, so will check the film out when it's released to see if I'm in it making an ass of myself on a Vietnamese beach.

Went out that night to the main nightclub area by Central, the beer was a rip off so we spent most of the night on the street drinking cans from seven eleven. Tried to get a taxi home and four separate cabs refused my fare after I told them where I was going. Had to walk 45 minutes home, was not impressed. Up early the next morning and spent the whole day travelling. Hong Kong to Singapore, and Singapore to Perth. Was very happy to be greeted by Rich Miles when I arrived in Perth airport, whose house I'm now staying in. Going to stay in Perth for the weekend, where we'll also be meeting up with Frank Daly, another friend from my Wesley days. Have been looking forward to seeing these guys for a while, so it's great to finally be here. I have a week on the west coast, and then I fly to Cairns getting in next Friday morning. I might even manage to catch Owen Wynne in Cairns airport for some breakfast before he flies back to Sydney. Definitely makes a nice change to see some familiar faces for the first time since I left Ireland.

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5th May 2013

Nice to hear about your travels
I'm glad you got to Australia and met up with some familiar faces and a bed! Sleeping on the floor didn't sound great

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