We got back from Amsterdam Monday night after only just making our flight.. which fortunately seemed to be running a bit late. Andrews girlfriend Anna wasn’t as fortunate and missed her 1:30 flight and had to wait for another one at 4:00pm.
Yesterday (Tuesday) we just chilled at home and were suppose to be planning the next few days… but not much planning happened!
We were going to hire a car and drive up through Scotland and stay a couple of night.. but decided against it consider it was basically a days drive there, and another back… We’d like to spend more time - but want to be in London for the easter long weekend with everyone else.
Got back in to the planning today and we’ve booked a tour for thursday to Stone Henge and to see Windsor Castle and Bath which should be pretty good! Tomorrow we’re thinking of catching a train down south to see Briton Beach which I believe is also near where one of our mates Ben lives.. but we’ll be seeing hime again for easter when he comes up to London…
Today we tried to see a bit more of London after my brothers crash tour, before we went to Amsterdam. We saw Hyde park well half of it… it’s massive! Saw heaps of strange birds/ducks, a lot of tame squirrels… a Ferrari, a Lamborghini and a couple of Austin Martins.. the later few were my favour beasts.. Hehe. Also saw Princess Diana’s memorial fountain which was a pretty cool design a pretty big!
Before going to Hyde park we also went to South Bank and walked around near the London Eye… we saw it from north bank the other day but it was better up close! We also had a better view of Big Ben from that side of the river!
Ohh and I almost forgot we came across a Salvador Dali exhibit today to.. Cost us 11 pound and wasn’t too bad, but I saw pretty disappointed considering the lack of oil paintings they had on display which is why he’s one of my favourite artists… They had a lot of sketches and water colours and sculptures instead.. The sculptures were definitely the highlight as I didn’t realised he’d done so many!
I’ll have to tell you all the other stories from Amsterdam soon!
Well yesterday was interesting, up at 6:00am for a flight out of tokyo… Got to the airport with about 1.5 hours before our flight left.. check in was a breeze so we went down and did some duty free shopping… then decided to line up at McDonalds for some breakfast.. mistake number 1…
The line took forever and by the time we’d finished eating our plane would have started boarding 10mins prior… but wasn’t suppose to leave for 30mins so we figured we were alright… so on our way to the flight quickly popped in to a news agent to try get ride of my last few yen… Ryan walked ahead and by the time I followed I saw him running back with the most panic’d look on his face, closely followed by a short Japanese woman…
Apparently he’d noticed on the board the flight was closing, and at the same time saw this woman holding up a sign running around with our flight number on it.. hahah! So we piss bolted from one corner of the airport to the other and the japanese woman played tag with another woman along the way who ran the rest of the distance yelling in to a walkie talkie..
So we made that flight but were the last two on board I think… then 12 hours 50 mins on that flight! Wasn’t as bad as it could have been we had a front row with room to stretch the legs…
By the time we landed in Zurich (Switzerland) though our connecting flight had been cancelled due to poor weather in London… we lined up thinking we’d end up spending a night or something and the guy before us at the counter was in the same situation and was bitching about it and didn’t want to end up on a waiting list cause he didn’t have any confidence in them…. We however went straight on a waiting list and while we were at the counter got some seats assigned!!
My little brother came and collected us at the airport and gave us a run down of the tube… although after being awake for 24 hours at the time I don’t know that much sunk in.. hehe
Anyways time to go do some washing… really don’t want to have to start turning dirty jocks inside out.. hahahaha
So last night at about 1:00am I set an alarm to get up at 6am… We wanted to go to the Tokyo fish market or Tsukiji fish market which is busiest between 5am and 8am.. and is pretty much closed by 11am. It is also the largest wholesale fish market in the world, and is one of the largest wholesale food markets of any time…
I woke up to the alarm even though I had my ear plugs in… Ryan didn’t… but being so tired I just turned it off and went go to back to sleep, thankfully for Ryans snoring that didn’t happen - although apparently I was last night as well.. Haha!
Anyways 3 coffees later as the sun was still rising we arrived there… it was huge and you have to constantly watch out for people rushing past or worse forklifts or these other little crate transports that are everywhere.. and they fly around pretty fast!
There were soo many fish we’d never seen before some as big as a bar fridge (which they cut with a ban saw!).. oysters in massive bags the size of a 10L bucket.. some fish were still alive in containers of water… some crabs whose body alone was nearly the size of two hand spans!
The strangest thing though - when we were in the produce market next to the fish market we got the strongest whiff of vegemite!? We looked around and couldn’t work out where it was coming from… not long after I sampled a vegetable which sliced looks like a carrot, but looks nothing like one otherwise… it was crunchy like a carrot, but had a sweat pickle taste that turned in to a distinct taste of Vegemite!!!! I seriously need to try find out what it is so I can hunt it down back home to show you all!!
Didn’t see any whale meat though, I presume they sell it behind closed doors away from the Australian ;)
On Wednesday we went for a walk to a temple near our hostel which one of the backpackers recommended.. It’s known as the Sensoji Temple or Asakusa Temple and is suppose to be Tokyo’s oldest one… it was really strange to find this tucked away down some side streets… but it was really easy to stumble across it given we we’re really given very good directions… It’s easy to stumble across because all of the little alleys and streets around it are just littered with store or street vendors…
Ryan went all traditionally and rubbed himself with the smoke from the inscense which your suppose to rub on areas your sick as a kind of pray to give yourself better help I think… He also washed his hands in this fountain along with all of the locals - but we weren’t sure what this was for… I’d be interested to know if anyone does?!
The roofs of these temples were massive though and the surrounding gardens were pretty amazing! There was a Geisha there as well but very disappointing because it clearly was not a real one… quite pathetic to see them doing this actually… there were big blotches on the back of her neck which weren’t white, and the make-up and general behaviour of her was more of a clown in an amusement park…
Sorry I haven’t given you all an update since we arrived, I’ve been struggling the past few days to upload photos… There are some up there but only from our first couple of days! So there will be lots more to come when I have more success…
On Tuesday we went to Akihabara which is known as the electronic city where there are hundreds of alleys with street side vendors selling all sorts of gadgets like mostly memory sticks, and computer part or weird electronic toys… Its also the anime hub of Japan…
We saw heaps of strange shit but those that took the cake were:
- a large array of electronic toilet seats which you can adjust the strength of the spray from the bidet, built in heating and can make flushing sounds to hide any other sounds you might be making on the toilet.. Haha!
- an exercise device which can only be described as a ride on bull but with the way they were advertising it you’d compare it to the abdominal products they try to sell back home.. I have photos wait for them!!
- rotating car spaces - basically you drive in and the car is on a large round plate which will spin the car back around so you can drive it back out, no reserving or 3 point turns!
- figurines by the millions! no joke there is a figurine for everything and any thing… most movies you can think of you can probably find one for, then there are all the anime characters and kids shows.. there are even some very provocative adult ones which we bought from a vending machine which were hilarious!
We also stumbled across a few strange little shops that appeared to sell just random junk outside then you get inside and it looks more like a hardware store.. take a few steps further towards the back and they’re selling weapons like ninja stars, nun-chucks, samurai swords and knives.. take a few more steps and they’re selling adult DVD’s and sex toys!?
Speaking of which on our way back to the station we stopped in to a big book store trying to find an English book about Tokyo. The store was about 7 levels and you’d compare it to borders back in brisbane first few floors were normal books like computers, novels, magazines, non-fictions… but you get to the upper few levels and they were ALL manga/anime porn?! Some of which was very graphic… and the weird thing is some of the business men here on the trains will just read this in public with no shame even sitting next to elderly women!
So we arrive in Tokyo tonight.. after a LONG flight.. got up at 5am this morning just to get here at the hostel at like 9pm… Was an interesting journey! Ryan got padded down and swabbed before we even left Australia! Haha.. Then on our flight he walks in to the toilet on an 70 year japanese lady who didn’t realise there was a latch to show it wasn’t vacant.. LOL
Our room is about as big as my boot.. very comfy! Haha.. But the hostel is pretty cool, few well setup common areas with couches, pool table, free internet (where we are now)… But this keyboard is INSANE… its half in japanese and most of the characters you have to use shift for are all on the wrong keys.. trying to type from memory… took me 5 attempts to type a smilely face before ;) that one took me three.. getting better.. haha
All we’ve really done so far is have McDonalds.. You have to try it in every try it in every country.. had a fillet of fish which had prawns, and a terriyaki chicken burger.. Ohh and vending machine… Oh My God.. this country has been invaded, there is a couple every 50 meters.. Even had a hot coffee in a can out of one before! Most just have a WIDE selection of smokes though!
Train ride from the airport was an adventure… I’ve started learning to memorise the Japanese characters which has come in quiet handy… some signs have english so you can do the translation, but not all do… Except it nearly cause a problem cause I memories the wrong station.. hahaha! All good though Ryan spotted another English sign before we got out of the sardine can…
Anyways it’s only day one of this 3 month adventure… I’ll try keep this blog and photos updated as I go! Keep in touch…
