I'm now back at home, searching desperately for a job with a total of £6 pounds spread across my current and savings account. Reality is depressing! However, I thought I should really finish off the blog for now with the final part of my journey - Japan.
I flew from Sydney to Tokyo, where I stayed with an English couchsurfing host there for a couple of days. I'm not going to do any naming or shaming, and I sincerely hope this wouldn't offend him too much, but he was definitely not my kind of person. He was kind enough, but just had a very strange outlook on life - for instance, he told me that he was only interested in having people stay with him from the commonwealth, had no interest in visiting any countries not in the commonwealth (he'd been forced to work in Japan which was why he was there, he certainly wasn't a big fan of the place). His flat contained not one, but two photos of the Queen, and he insisted on calling Malaysia 'Malaya', even to the face of a guy that we met up with from the country in question! It hasn't been Malaya since 1946 my friend, get with the times! Oh and Singapore and Hong Kong were British Singapore and British Hong Kong. He apparently would still bow in London if he saw any of the royal cars go past. He had approximately 20 different types of tea in flat, for any occasion or time of the day. If you are pondering the age of this man, no he is not 70, he was in fact in his early 30's. I have honesty never met anyone so thoroughly obsessed with being English.
I guess I should actually tell you a bit about Tokyo now! I was expecting bright neon lights and a crazy energy, but due to the earthquake, electricity use had to be dramatically reduced, and so the bright lights had been dimmed. There seemed to be a bit of a sadness hanging over the city, quite understandably. Apparently there had been a massive increase of suicides after the quake, around a 30% increase in Tokyo, and a total of 3,281 suicides in Japan in May alone. That number isn't much smaller than the total yearly suicides in England to put it in perspective, so sad.
There were some areas of Tokyo still buzzing though, in particular the Harajuku district (that's the bit that Gwen Stefani always sings about if it rings a bell). Takeshita street was full of people wearing daring/ crazy outfits out to buy some more similarly quirky outfits. I just sat in a Starbucks people watching for an hour, the fashion is so out there and, for me, extremely interesting. I also enjoyed the West side of Japan, Asakusa in particular came alive at night with market stalls on the way to the large temple.
Clockwise from top: sake barrels kept at a shrine; the temple gates in Asakusa; The craziness and cuteness of Takeshita Street; a tea ceremony in a temple.
Speaking of temples, I took a bus to Kyoto after 3 days and went absolutely temple mad! I had originally intended to leave Kyoto after a few days and travel down to Hiroshima, but I hurt my back again on another night bus (I really should learn my lesson) and so didn't fancy all the extra travelling. If I had plenty of money, I would definitely have bought the Japan Rail pass, but for people on a budget, the buses are a great option at a third of a price, so long as you don't have a temperamental back! I was perfectly happy to spend longer in Kyoto though as I absolutely fell in love with the city.
Kyoto is a city that is described as being on a par with Paris, Rome etc as one of those places that you should see before you die, and I couldn't agree more. It is simply magical. It has hundreds of temples, a handful of UNESCO world heritage sites, a castle, and the exquisite Gion disctrict, full of atmospheric cobble-stoned streets, ancient tea-houses, and of course, geisha. Geisha-spotting became quite a hobby of mine, they were so fascinating to watch, with their impossible clog/ flip flop shoes, breathtaking kimonos and painted faces.
Whilst I was still based in Kyoto, I took a day trip to nearby Osaka. Osaka was basically everything I'd hoped for from Tokyo - it had the bright lights and buzzing atmosphere in abundance! I spent my day by firstly going to the aquarium, which is one of the largest in the world (it was amazing), then I got the metro to the castle (also amazing). I left there just after the sun had set, and headed towards Shinsaibashi, which was packed with people enjoying the neon lights and the food. I bought some octopus balls which caused great hilarity with the staff when I threw them everywhere immediately after buying them, as I tripped up the stairs to the restaurant. Saving face is a big part of the culture in Japan, like it is in China, so it was interesting to see how they dealt with it - by taking the mickey out of me. I guess they know that saving face isn't how it works in the Western world! Nonetheless, they restocked my balls and made a show of helping me up the stairs with them. They were tasty, and worth the embarrassment!
Left: Shinsaibashi at night. Right: Osaka castle.
The last evening I spent in Kyoto was so wonderful that I'm going to have to write about it in detail! I began by taking a late afternoon walk to Kyomizu temple (impressive after I escaped the thousands of schoolchildren), then I walked down to the Gion district at dusk to begin the geisha spotting. There's one main street that the tourists stick to, so I quickly walked off that and travelled back in time, finding my own quiet streets with the odd kimono-wearing lady performing household chores or having a chat outside their residence. After about 5 minutes, I struck gold - a geisha walked out of her house right in front of me, towards the tea house she was performing in that night. She seemed about as surprised to see me as I was her! After that, I decided to take the back streets heading back to my wonderful hostel (Khaosan Kyoto Guesthouse, if you ever get the chance to go). There was a tiny little vegetarian restaurant just by the hostel which I went into, which had enough space for a maximum capacity of 6 people, all sat at the bar where you can chat to the owner/ chef while she prepares the food. I was lucky enough to be in there with three men, one of which spoke reasonable English and wanted to chat, which is quite a rarity. He and his friends had come to Kyoto for a year of Buddhist training, and were actually staying above the restaurant. Apparently the owner/ chef was also an excellent Buddhist. At one point in the meal, a man arrived with a large package for my new friend. It contained a traditional southern-Japanese instrument which looked a bit like a banjo. After tuning it, he began to play, and everyone in the restaurant started to sing along to the traditional music. The man then bought me some sake to drink with him when he found out I'd never tried it. Feeling a little light-headed, I went back to the hostel, and enjoyed my ever anime film - an apparent classic Akira. All us hostel-mates were sat crowded around the TV, and it took us ages to figure out how to get English subtitles using the Japanese remote. One of the Japanese girls staying there eventually figured out, and got a massive round of applause for her efforts, which was clearly mortifying for her! The film was actually really good as well. It was literally the perfect evening, everything that I had hoped for of Japan.
I had two nights left in Tokyo before my morning flight out of there, so I decided to finish the trip in style - one night in a capsule hotel, and my final night in a real hotel, with a bath and everything! Worth every darn yen. The capsule hotel was fun, I had to put my shoes in a locker at reception and wear their slippers instead, until I needed to use the bathroom, when special WC slippers has to be used instead! The shower room was quite an experience as well - it was communal for start, not so much as a curtain between showers, with a ridiculously hot large hot tub (I think they are called onsens). The only saving grace for the shower room was that at least it was incredibly steamy, so visibility was limited!
The inside and outside of my capsule!
And so, we're all caught up. It took me 12 1/2 hours to get back to Heathrow, in which time I managed to watch 5 films and eat a lot of quite unpleasant food. The arrivals gate scene with my Mum was an emotional one, my Dad asked me where my tan was (typical), and it occurred to me that absolutely nothing has changed in England. I have actually started to view the last ten months as some kind of elaborate dream! I now have 2 months of potential unemployment/ shelf stacking before hopping back on a plane on New Year's day and getting back to the wonderful warmth and chaos of Asia (Bangkok to be precise) to begin my teaching there. I'm currently busy trying to find a job in an international school from next September - so far, I've applied for Spain, Qatar and Dubai, with an application for Hong Kong next on the to-do list. Let's hope that 2012 is as crazy as 2011!
To my 1000+ readers, I hope you've enjoyed reading the blog as much as I've enjoyed writing it. The last 10 months were the best of my life, even taking into account Delhi belly, broken backs, jacket potato shortages, and millions of terrible cups of tea! If you are someone considering a gap year, my advice is GO! GO NOW! Oh, and don't eat the street samosas in Delhi! xx
I flew from Sydney to Tokyo, where I stayed with an English couchsurfing host there for a couple of days. I'm not going to do any naming or shaming, and I sincerely hope this wouldn't offend him too much, but he was definitely not my kind of person. He was kind enough, but just had a very strange outlook on life - for instance, he told me that he was only interested in having people stay with him from the commonwealth, had no interest in visiting any countries not in the commonwealth (he'd been forced to work in Japan which was why he was there, he certainly wasn't a big fan of the place). His flat contained not one, but two photos of the Queen, and he insisted on calling Malaysia 'Malaya', even to the face of a guy that we met up with from the country in question! It hasn't been Malaya since 1946 my friend, get with the times! Oh and Singapore and Hong Kong were British Singapore and British Hong Kong. He apparently would still bow in London if he saw any of the royal cars go past. He had approximately 20 different types of tea in flat, for any occasion or time of the day. If you are pondering the age of this man, no he is not 70, he was in fact in his early 30's. I have honesty never met anyone so thoroughly obsessed with being English.
I guess I should actually tell you a bit about Tokyo now! I was expecting bright neon lights and a crazy energy, but due to the earthquake, electricity use had to be dramatically reduced, and so the bright lights had been dimmed. There seemed to be a bit of a sadness hanging over the city, quite understandably. Apparently there had been a massive increase of suicides after the quake, around a 30% increase in Tokyo, and a total of 3,281 suicides in Japan in May alone. That number isn't much smaller than the total yearly suicides in England to put it in perspective, so sad.
There were some areas of Tokyo still buzzing though, in particular the Harajuku district (that's the bit that Gwen Stefani always sings about if it rings a bell). Takeshita street was full of people wearing daring/ crazy outfits out to buy some more similarly quirky outfits. I just sat in a Starbucks people watching for an hour, the fashion is so out there and, for me, extremely interesting. I also enjoyed the West side of Japan, Asakusa in particular came alive at night with market stalls on the way to the large temple.
Clockwise from top: sake barrels kept at a shrine; the temple gates in Asakusa; The craziness and cuteness of Takeshita Street; a tea ceremony in a temple.
Speaking of temples, I took a bus to Kyoto after 3 days and went absolutely temple mad! I had originally intended to leave Kyoto after a few days and travel down to Hiroshima, but I hurt my back again on another night bus (I really should learn my lesson) and so didn't fancy all the extra travelling. If I had plenty of money, I would definitely have bought the Japan Rail pass, but for people on a budget, the buses are a great option at a third of a price, so long as you don't have a temperamental back! I was perfectly happy to spend longer in Kyoto though as I absolutely fell in love with the city.
Kyoto is a city that is described as being on a par with Paris, Rome etc as one of those places that you should see before you die, and I couldn't agree more. It is simply magical. It has hundreds of temples, a handful of UNESCO world heritage sites, a castle, and the exquisite Gion disctrict, full of atmospheric cobble-stoned streets, ancient tea-houses, and of course, geisha. Geisha-spotting became quite a hobby of mine, they were so fascinating to watch, with their impossible clog/ flip flop shoes, breathtaking kimonos and painted faces.
Whilst I was still based in Kyoto, I took a day trip to nearby Osaka. Osaka was basically everything I'd hoped for from Tokyo - it had the bright lights and buzzing atmosphere in abundance! I spent my day by firstly going to the aquarium, which is one of the largest in the world (it was amazing), then I got the metro to the castle (also amazing). I left there just after the sun had set, and headed towards Shinsaibashi, which was packed with people enjoying the neon lights and the food. I bought some octopus balls which caused great hilarity with the staff when I threw them everywhere immediately after buying them, as I tripped up the stairs to the restaurant. Saving face is a big part of the culture in Japan, like it is in China, so it was interesting to see how they dealt with it - by taking the mickey out of me. I guess they know that saving face isn't how it works in the Western world! Nonetheless, they restocked my balls and made a show of helping me up the stairs with them. They were tasty, and worth the embarrassment!
Left: Shinsaibashi at night. Right: Osaka castle.
The last evening I spent in Kyoto was so wonderful that I'm going to have to write about it in detail! I began by taking a late afternoon walk to Kyomizu temple (impressive after I escaped the thousands of schoolchildren), then I walked down to the Gion district at dusk to begin the geisha spotting. There's one main street that the tourists stick to, so I quickly walked off that and travelled back in time, finding my own quiet streets with the odd kimono-wearing lady performing household chores or having a chat outside their residence. After about 5 minutes, I struck gold - a geisha walked out of her house right in front of me, towards the tea house she was performing in that night. She seemed about as surprised to see me as I was her! After that, I decided to take the back streets heading back to my wonderful hostel (Khaosan Kyoto Guesthouse, if you ever get the chance to go). There was a tiny little vegetarian restaurant just by the hostel which I went into, which had enough space for a maximum capacity of 6 people, all sat at the bar where you can chat to the owner/ chef while she prepares the food. I was lucky enough to be in there with three men, one of which spoke reasonable English and wanted to chat, which is quite a rarity. He and his friends had come to Kyoto for a year of Buddhist training, and were actually staying above the restaurant. Apparently the owner/ chef was also an excellent Buddhist. At one point in the meal, a man arrived with a large package for my new friend. It contained a traditional southern-Japanese instrument which looked a bit like a banjo. After tuning it, he began to play, and everyone in the restaurant started to sing along to the traditional music. The man then bought me some sake to drink with him when he found out I'd never tried it. Feeling a little light-headed, I went back to the hostel, and enjoyed my ever anime film - an apparent classic Akira. All us hostel-mates were sat crowded around the TV, and it took us ages to figure out how to get English subtitles using the Japanese remote. One of the Japanese girls staying there eventually figured out, and got a massive round of applause for her efforts, which was clearly mortifying for her! The film was actually really good as well. It was literally the perfect evening, everything that I had hoped for of Japan.
I had two nights left in Tokyo before my morning flight out of there, so I decided to finish the trip in style - one night in a capsule hotel, and my final night in a real hotel, with a bath and everything! Worth every darn yen. The capsule hotel was fun, I had to put my shoes in a locker at reception and wear their slippers instead, until I needed to use the bathroom, when special WC slippers has to be used instead! The shower room was quite an experience as well - it was communal for start, not so much as a curtain between showers, with a ridiculously hot large hot tub (I think they are called onsens). The only saving grace for the shower room was that at least it was incredibly steamy, so visibility was limited!
The inside and outside of my capsule!
And so, we're all caught up. It took me 12 1/2 hours to get back to Heathrow, in which time I managed to watch 5 films and eat a lot of quite unpleasant food. The arrivals gate scene with my Mum was an emotional one, my Dad asked me where my tan was (typical), and it occurred to me that absolutely nothing has changed in England. I have actually started to view the last ten months as some kind of elaborate dream! I now have 2 months of potential unemployment/ shelf stacking before hopping back on a plane on New Year's day and getting back to the wonderful warmth and chaos of Asia (Bangkok to be precise) to begin my teaching there. I'm currently busy trying to find a job in an international school from next September - so far, I've applied for Spain, Qatar and Dubai, with an application for Hong Kong next on the to-do list. Let's hope that 2012 is as crazy as 2011!
To my 1000+ readers, I hope you've enjoyed reading the blog as much as I've enjoyed writing it. The last 10 months were the best of my life, even taking into account Delhi belly, broken backs, jacket potato shortages, and millions of terrible cups of tea! If you are someone considering a gap year, my advice is GO! GO NOW! Oh, and don't eat the street samosas in Delhi! xx
