Travels in Japan - Kanazawa

Famous last words - "I'll keep up with posting". HAHAHAHA. Oh, Nessie. You so silly!

Anyhow, we arrived in Kanazawa on a dreary, wet afternoon. Our apartment was visible from the train station, which was awesome given the rain, and when we got to the apartment we discovered they had provided umbrellas. Winning! I guess it must rain quite a lot in Kanazawa. 

Kanazawa is on the northern coast of Japan, and from memory was about two hours on the Shinkansen from Tokyo via Nageno. It's a little off the standard tourist route (there were some Asian tourists, I believe mostly domestic ones, but very few westerners) but is a nice little old town, with traditional tea and samurai districts, a castle, and some nice gardens. They also have a relatively new train station with a cool wooden sculpture out the front (which I believe is meant to represent a traditional Japanese drum of some kind), and free wifi in lots of places, hosted by the tourism board. The trees around town all had hemp rope on which initially confused us, but then we realised it was to support the trees in the snow, and it actually looks quite pretty in its own right. 

We only had an hour or so of daylight left once we got our act together, so we headed out to the nearest, driest point of interest on the tourism map, being the local produce markets. This is where we discovered that Kanazawa is pretty big on seafood, which momentarily freaked us out as we're not especially big on seafood. But as it turns out, it wasn't a problem as there were plenty of other foods on offer.

So we wandered around the makets for a while, grabbed some strawberries and pineapple on sticks - pretty amazing, especially as fruit seems to be a less common part of a diet here, although perhaps I've been looking in the wrong places?? - and I selected my vending machine offering of the day: Hot matcha tea to warm a freezing cold hand. 

Then we splashed about town briefly before throwing in the towel (haha! See what I did there?? Wet? Towel? Hah!). Luckily tori gates do look quite striking in the rain. 

Eventually we found our way to a yakitori bar for dinner. They thoughtfully provided enough information in English to allow us to avoid eating skewered and fried pig/chicken gut/liver/cartilage/rectum/heart/etc., all of which was on the menu. 

I'm really beginning to realise how poorly Australia caters to foreign tourists, too. I mean, you could argue that we don't serve anything strange enough for it to matter that much if you don't know what you're ordering, but it's all but unheard of for menus to exist in other languages in most restaurants, as far as I'm aware. Instead of having a confusing tourism campaign starring a fame-hungry model screeching "where the bloody hell are ya?", perhaps providing menus in other languages, or actually having helpful signage on or around public transport, or encouraging residents not to act like jerks when someone who doesn't speak English well asks them for directions, or just not dropping our rubbish on the ground/graffitiing public infrastructure/showing no consideration towards others may all aid in Australia becoming a more palatable destination. Just sayin'.

Anyhow.

Day two was spent wandering about one of the old tea districts, eating ice cream with gold leaf sprinkled on top (true story! We're so darned fancy), 

 and checking out the gardens and palace grounds (we arrived too late in the day for the tour...but on the bright side admission was free as a result). 

Oh, and eating more ice cream!

And we spotted the ubiquitous postie bike, which sounds exactly the same as the ones at home, no matter how it's kitted out. 

The next day involved a visit to a ninja temple (which sadly was completely unrelated to ninjas, but was named thusly because it is full of "tricks" (mostly secret passages and creative ways to maim enemies). Japan seems to use some words quite creatively, which can sometimes lead to disappointment. The ones I've noticed the most often are "studio" where it's more of a shop, "museum" where...it's more of a shop, or "castle/temple/palace" where is actually just some nice gardens in the location of the former castle/temple/palace, because these structures have a habit of repeatedly burning down, and sometimes they just stop rebuilding them. And in this case, ninjas where there are absolutely no ninjas and never have been. Sad face.), 

and a long walk home in the rain via another tea district, 

and through the old samurai district, and then a random dinner where we had no idea what we were ordering. But G managed to order chicken, and it came out looking like this. You cooked it yourself on a burner on the table and it was a pretty tasty dinner for a total shot in the dark. 

Oh, and of course, the vending machine offering for the day: some sort of hot milk tea, vaguely peachy in flavour. 

I should also mention that we had an awesome housemate in our Kanazawa apartment, who we later saw in Christmas with in Kyoto. But that's another story for another night.

Next stop: Kyoto!

Travels in Japan - Tokyo

Hey y'all! 

Well the last time I updated this poor, neglected blog was more than a year ago, and I was midway though my trip to India. Just FYI, I survived it! Barely. I caught pneumonia in Amritsar, suffered some mild fever-induced hallucinations at an amazingly gaudy Buddhist temple there, stumbled around the golden temple trying to focus on spirituality while running a temperature, and rallied just in time for the amazing evening flag ceremony on the border with Pakistan. And I ended up with pleurisy when I got home. Which, ouch. But the take-home message is that India is pretty awesome, and Delhi was infinitely more positive an experience the second time around, and I'm alive!

Anyhoo, now I'm alive and in Japan for the 2015-16 Christmas holidays. We're freestyling it a bit, and seeing where the wind blows us. We're currently in Kanazawa so I'm going to try to catch up, and then keep up!

So Tokyo. 

We stayed in Yoyogi, at an undisclosed community accommodation booking facility, which was (without consulting a timetable) about 30 minutes on the JR Yamanote line from Tokyo. Our accommodation was ridiculously easy to find, and also super tiny for we two giants, but at the same time was all we really needed. 

Yoyogi was a pretty good base - affordable accommodation, accessible public transport, and only a few stops from the likes of Shibuya and Harijuku, and straightforward to navigate to other parts of the city on the Yamanote line. 

We flew Jetstar thanks to the cheaper prices. We paid extra for exit row seats because we're giants, which were totally worth every penny, especially as I had no qualms about reclining my seat because the person behind me was a tiny Japanese person who threw a blanket over their entire body about five minutes into the flight (and I say their, as I have no idea of their gender due to the comprehensive blanket coverage!) and stayed that way for the duration. Huzzah! Altogether Jetstar gave remarkably good service Melbourne to Tokyo, especially  compared to the appalling service they provide both landslide and airside in Australia on domestic flights. Disclaimer: Jetstar has no idea I exist. This is a completely unbiased positive review of their international service. Everyone knows their domestic service is sh!t so no biggie mentioning it here (even though I have friends working for them, sorry guys!). 

So. Tokyo. 

On the day we arrived we grabbed our first Japanese vending machine beverages (hot tea for me. HOT! AMAZING!)

then stashed out luggage at a train station and wandered around Shinjuku until the check-in time at our nearby accommodation. We managed to figure out how to order udon noodles and cold tempura vegetables and "tube fish" (basically a fried crab stick but hollow) for lunch without actually being able to speak any intelligible Japanese besides "thank you". Good to know we're not going to starve!

After mucking around getting some wifi (hot tip: sign up for Starbucks wifi BEFORE you get to Japan, cos you need email access to verify the account, which is an infuriating catch-22), we headed out for some dinner at this little fast food-ish place by the station. You order and pay  by pressing buttons on a machine by the door (top right hand corner of the screen sometimes has an English option; otherwise, just wing it based on pictures), then hand the person at the counter the tickets the machine dispenses, and they bring you pretty darned good value for money food. 

Next, some fairy lights caught my eye, and you know how I love Christmas! So we followed our noses until we found quite an amazing display. Who says Japan doesn't do Christmas!

And then we discovered the Tokyo Hands department store. OMG! So take my obsession with cute little homewares to a new level, and that is Tokyo Hands. Aluminium drink bottles shaped like old-fashioned  milk bottles. Insulated lunch bags shaped like handbags. Honestly, I'm beginning to suspect I was a Japanese person in a previous life, because *head explodes*!

Day Two: the forecast was cold and clear so we made a beeline for to Tokyo Skytree first thing to get the best possible view and avoid queues. We caught the metro (subway) and arrived at the back of the line around 9:30-10am. We were in line for around half an hour, and by the time we had our tickets the line was right out the door. So be sure to arrive early! Cold weather is apparently also better for views of Mt Fuji, which is an unexpected perk of having to take your leave during the Southern Hemisphere summer. 

Next stop: Asakusa. Pretty sure it was on a metro line, maybe a pinkish-brownish one, but who knows! There are kind of touristy markets, good food (not sure what this is but it was sweet and yum, and in the cup is some kind of hot sake mixed with rice pudding (I think?? It was nice, anyhow)) and a shrine. 

Last stop of the day was an Intrepid Urban Adventures night food tour. 

I've travelled with Intrepid in Africa and India and they seem to have their sh!t together. Again, a disclaimer that beyond having travelled  with them before they have no idea I exist. Anyway, the food tour was great as we learnt a few things (mostly, hint: around larger train stations you'll often find yakitori bars under the tracks; curtains down means bar is open; and you often have to pay ~500 yen cover charge unless otherwise specified, so try not to be shocked by that). The guide was knowledgable and friendly. I wouldn't say it was truly excellent value for money, except that we visited places we otherwise wouldn't have necessarily found, so I guess it (begrudgingly) kind of came out alright in the end. And we were full at the end, so I guess it was like having a expensive-ish dinner out in Melbourne, but more experience-oriented.

Also, vending machine offering of the day: hot aroma milk tea. 

Day 3: the parasite museum in Meguro. Because Japan. 

This is an 8.8m tapeworm, btw. In the CAME OUT OF A HUMAN section of the museum. Grossssssss. 

And then we stuck our heads into a supermarket, just for kicks, and discovered that a bottle of Jim

Beam costs about $10. Not that we drink that sh!t. 

And that you can buy glass whisky shots!

And then the Tokyo Station, which is very pretty. On the outside. Inside is equal parts hectic and amazing. 

And then the Imperial Palace Gardens (free!) where I had my vending machine offering of the day of a hot lemon vitamin C drink:

And then the science museum. Go to the top level first and work your way down. We did it the other way, and word of warning, the lower floors are more

oriented to school groups. Three cheers for nuclear power!

And then the fountains!

Next stop, the famous Shibuya crossing  

and a smoky little yakitori bar in Shibuya for dinner, where they thoughtfully provided a chicken roadmap and found out that Coke is only about 20% cheaper than beer. 

We ate all of the things (that came from conventional parts of an animal) and drank sake, beer and shochu, and saw several drunken salarymen passed out on train platforms with vomit on their faces. I guess that'll happen when it's ¥1500 (AUD$18ish) all you can drink for an hour!

But I think my very favourite part of Tokyo  was seeing a girl assume that the toilets at the train station were more automated than they actually were, and tried pressing on five different things just to close the door, only to realise that it was actually just a normal door that required closing by hand. Hilarious.  

Next stop - Kanazawa. 

India - Week One

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Agra, killing a few hours before we head back to Delhi. There's too much time to not be bored, and too little to go do something else, so I thought I'd just catch up on some journal writing and blogging. 

The last week has been a lot of fun. We landed in a pretty group of people in our Intrepid tour. As usual there has been someone who fits in less well with the group, and some who are quieter, but on the whole the dynamic has been quite positive. Our tour leader Veerendra is quite knowledgable, and it took him a few days but his less serious side finally showed up, and with it, his cheeky grin. Five of us are going on to do another tour tomorrow so hopefully the guide is just as good. 

We began, and will end, in Delhi. And I have to say, ugh. Delhi is doubtlessly my least favourite place so far. It feels like just another soulless, sprawling city, where everyone wants something from you; and whilst certain elements have been interesting, the prospect of rattling around Delhi tomorrow and again on the day I leave India does not fill me with joy. But I will have good company so I'm sure I'll make the most of it. 

Also, to be fair to Delhi, my impression of the hotel didn't help. Although I didn't expect great things, having travelled fairly extensively in developing countries, I was still a little disappointed. And that was probably because 1. The room was stuffy and claustrophobic because it had no windows at all, just a wall decorated with alternating panels of padded vinyl and a semi-reflective surface; 2. The entire bathroom was covered in dust (but not the rest of the room...); 3. There was a pigeon living in the exhaust fan of the bathroom, which probably contributed to the dust and also meant that, every so often, a feather would float out; and 4. There were maggots in our beds. (Do you like how I saved that one until last? 😊)

We got up to a few things in our first couple of days in Delhi. My BFF Ness and I explored the area around the hotel and ate street food for breakfast for the princely sum of about 40c, so imagine our horror at ending up in hotels on tour where you have to spend seven whole dollars on breakfast. The horror! (That's a joke, by the way. Compared to the $20 or so you'd spend back home, it's obviously very affordable, despite often eating at establishments geared to cater for tourists with sensitive stomachs.)

We went on a tuk-tuk adventure (to be clear, I'm aware they're supposed to be called motor rickshaws (or a variation thereof), but they have taken to calling them tuk-tuks when they tout their services, presumably to cater to tourists) with a driver who in hindsight stalked us back from breakfast. After a dispute about where he was taking us (he wanted to take us to an emporium and to a tourism office where he obviously got a commission), he finally took us around the war memorial, and then to the parliament and prime minister's residences, where we had our first taste of domestic Indian tourists including us in family photos. And then we had a brush with the law. Our increasingly dodgy tuk-tuk driver didn't tell us it costs RS$500 (AUD$10) to get into there, and he evaded the fee on the way out which resulted in a very minor police chase and some red lights run. When he finally lost himself in traffic and felt safe and explained, we scolded him and he seemed suitably chastened. He took us to a fairly nice garden...and on the way home he insisted on taking us back to the emporium. We finally yielded when he explained that he got a lunch voucher if we looked around, so ten minutes in air conditioning wasn't the end of the world when you're hot and jet lagged. Anyway, that was our big adventure that lasted about 90 minutes, cost $2.10 and taught us what to watch out for so it was an afternoon well spent!

Once we'd met the group, we went for an adventure on the Metro, where we discovered there is a Women's Only carriage. And it was actually quite comforting. There was also a magical force field between our carriage and the next, despite there being no physical barrier. The metro was clean, new, ran well and was safe - bags were X-rayed and passengers walked through metal detectors - so I do quite highly rate their metro system. Just be prepared for the gentle push 😉

We wandered around a market, had a masala chai, visited the largest mosque in India (spoiler alert: it was pretty huge), rode in a bicycle rickshaw, and visited a Sikh temple and saw their community kitchen where they cater for 3,000 hungry people each day. And we sweated. A lot. Luckily I was able to bond with one group member in particular over how ridiculously sweaty we were. One week in and it has become par for the course, but early on it was amusing. 

From Delhi we moved onto Jaipur by train, which included a little breakfast brought to you on a tray. It was somewhat reminiscent of the long-distance buses in South America.

Jaipur itself was very pretty after the grime of Delhi, and our hotel was very 1950's British, with a nice lawn, cane lounges and simple but clean rooms in a hotel that both has windows (yay!) and was also built for the heat (yay again!). 

Highlights from Jaipur were a visit to the quite incredible Amber Fort, an obligatory (but interesting) visit to a textile factory where they showed us how they do block printing using natural dyes, taking in a surprisingly compelling movie about a female Indian boxing champion (no subtitles!), visiting the city palace museum and the observatory, which contained the world's largest sundial, and an incredible (but for totally different reasons that I won't elaborate on here!) oil massage that cost all of about $15. 

From Jaipur we caught a private bus to Karauli, where we stayed in a hotel that was the former residence of one of the Kings of one of the 22 Rajasthani princely states. He's still king, by the way, but it's a ceremonial role. He also still stays at the palace, but rents most of it out as a hotel to pay for the upkeep. It was a pretty amazing experience to stay in a palace, which, if I were to hazard a guess, was decorated more or less as it had always been. But yep, pretty sure I could handle living like a princess!

We also did a village walk in Karauli, and visited a Hari Krishna temple, where the women were very welcoming and invited the girls in to join them in their singing and dancing. It was quite an experience. Walking back through the village we encountered so many friendly children who just wanted to say hello. You could tell they hadn't made the connection between tourism and making a profit, which in hindsight is why our guide discouraged us from leaving the palace grounds. It was very refreshing and is just as it should be. 

Back on the bus, and next stop was Agra, via Fatehpur Sikri, a former Mughul palace and adjacent, second-largest in India, mosque. Like Amber Fort, the palace was the kind of place you could spend a few hours alone with a camera...but no such luck. The guide told us an interesting story of the justice system of the time, and how murderes and rapists would be sentenced to Death by Elephant. They had this generally quite pleasant elephant they kept tethered to a rock, and when execution time rolled around they would feed it a plant that caused it to go crazy and trample whatever was in front of it - in this case, a murderer or rapist. Quite novel, definitely gory, and not at all fair on the elephant (nor surprising, given this was the emperor who came to the throne at 13 and would use women to play naked Blind Man's Bluff and other, naked, human-sized takes on traditional board games. He was obviously at a loose end as to what to do with his power for a time there...). On the bright side they obviously appreciated the poor creature, because they constructed quite a spectacular tomb for it!

Finally to Agra, where the streets seem to be better-made, and with less traffic than other cities. We entered the Taj Mahal at sunrise, but unfortunately the fog prevented us from getting the spectacular sunrise photos we'd hoped for. Still, the early start meant fewer people, so more photo opportunities and plenty if time to just chill out and take it all in. 

The feeling I got from the Taj Mahal was incredibly powerful. Obviously things are a bit different for kings with bottomless pockets, but the love the emperor had for his wife was almost palpable. An awe-inspiring structure, and a surprisingly peaceful place to visit despite the crowds. 

Later, we saw the room at the Agra fort where the emperor was imprisoned by his son for spending too much money on grand structures (hah!), and from it you could see the Taj Mahal. Legend has it that he would live out his days there, weeping for his dead wife as he looked out over the Taj Mahal that he would never again visit. 

The fort itself was pretty cool, too. I mean, this place had two moats, one wet one filled with crocodiles, and one dry one filled with tigers. It doesn't get much better than that!

So now we wait for the train. I'm trying to take it easy this afternoon because I have the triple-whammy of having sweated in the sun for half the day, being up at 4:45am and having an upset stomach. Our train also won't get in until after midnight tonight, so rest is probably a good idea. 

I hope that wasn't too tedious for you to read, but like I said, I have time to kill! And hopefully the pictures helped break things up a bit. I haven't taken many on my phone yet, as evidenced by the gaping pictorial holes in this story, but I'll try harder next week. 

Stay tuned for more adventures.