Japan - Tokyo

Finally got to Japan last week and done loads already. Spent first few days in Tokyo with my friends Naomi and her boyfriend Tomo. They helped ease me into the city starting off with a tour of the fish market at Tijuki (I think that's what it was called?!), and a brunch of mmmmm lovely sushi - I tried one which was just a load of tuna - higher and lower/normal grade arranged in a lovely rose shape on top of seaweed and rice. VERRrrrrrry nice. Never taken so many pictures of dead sea creatures in me life! That evening, we had a Korean-style BBQ with a bunch of kids on a school trip, and after that, we did what I've been wanting to do for, like, EVER, and we did the karaoke. Original stylee. We shopped around for the best price, and eventually took one where we got all-you-can-drink too, and were shown up to a tiny booth with a TV screen and touchscreen selector thing to select our songs. We screamed our hearts out and drank sour plum alcohol stuff for 2 hours, then time was up and our voices were gone so we got the last train back along with most of the rest of the city.


On the Sunday, we visited the park where all the funnily dressed yoof hang out, and there was a festival on called the walking of the three shrines (or something - sorry will look up the names of everything later!), so we went along to that, and saw lots of men walking around with no trousers on, letting it almost all hang out...so many people there. And occasionally a load of men with no trousers on came along carrying shrines above their heads and chanting. We also went to a Ramen place as Tomo is crazy about those noodles and likes to try out new places he hears of. There was a queue outside this one when we got there, so that was a good sign. We ordered using a vending machine type thing at the front of the restaurant, and then gave the ticket to the waiter when we got our seats. Mmmm those noodles were lovely - (they beat 9p noodles anyday!) - they gave us a huge plate of thick noodles and I ordered the veggie one, which came with a bowl of meat broth with veggies and spices etc in it, and the idea was to dip the noodles in the mix...mmm don't think I've talked so much about food before on my blog. I really like Japanese food. Spoke to a guy whose been living here for a couple of months and lost 10kg on it even though he's been eating lots, so that makes it good too!


On Monday I tackled the metro/rail system by myself and found it not so difficult after all, and found my way to the Kabouki theatre, where there is a special set of 'plays' on this month, being the anniversary of when an emperor first deigned to watch a kabuki performance. Only males are allowed to act in these plays, and there are around f acts to each play, with each one lasting half a day. I managed one act of about 1.25 hours and kept nodding off the whole way through. It was very dark in there tho....and to be honest it was pretty damn boring, even with the English commentary. It was just 2 men acting all domesticated and inactive most of the time. The Japanese lady sitting next to me was really enthusiastic though and asked me if I was staying for the 2nd act at the end of the first...."Errr, I think I'll come back for the 3rd act, just need to get some fresh air first..."


But I had more important and exciting things to do. I've chosen the right time to come to Japan, as there is also a sumo tournament on this month (think there are actually only 3 big ones a year), so I went to see the big guys stomping around on the stage, throwing salt in the air, and wobbling and squating in preparation to heave, slap and push their opponents off of a tiny platform. There was a good crowd there. I had had the opportunity to have my own sumo wrestle with an old lady in the museum before hand with the aid of some origami wrestlers which we hand crafted then pitted against each other on a shoebox lid. I won hands down, beat her to a pulp. The real matches were suprisingly good fun to watch. So much preparation would go into each match, so much salt thrown into the ring, so much stomping, the odd slapping of fat bellies and the less frequent crow of impending victory from a cocky wrestler, then the fight would start and sometimes be over in a matter of 10 seconds. Other fights would last only a couple of mins or so but the crowd would go crazy.

So that was my first few days....next are Hiroshima and Kyoto! Haven't got my USB thingy with me here to put the photos on, so soz about that for those of you who need the visual stimulation. Probably will have to wait til I get back to the UK.

New Zealand - South island

Places: Nelson, Christchurch
I've rushed through NZ so quickly I've hardly seen anything! On ANZAC day, me and Ellen went to an art class and painted pretty pictures! (One in the middle is our teacher's unfinished one) Neither of us had painted for TWELVE YEARS! So we were very impressed with the results, even if we did say so ourselves. Ellen has feijoa and lemon and lime trees in her garden! Feijoas are lovely soft green fruits, and which reminds me I had some mini kiwi fruits too, which you just eat whole, and they had red ones too. Yum v nice.

And yes I know I need a haircut!

Update 6/5/05: Ellen kindly cut my hair for me! Thank you! I also did one of the "Great Walks", the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk. I did it over 4 days, staying in huts along the way. Very beautiful scenery. A bit chilly but I still went in the sea and froze. Also saw seals at one point, and got really close to them, but not as close as at Kaikoura, down along the East coast on way to Christchurch, we went whale-watching first and saw a couple of sperm whales - v cool - and then I went on a walk to a seal-spotting point, and the seals were practically lying in the carpark! It said you should stay 10 metres away from them as they can get dangerous, but these ones just didn't care, they were scratching their bums and stretching their flippers and completely ignoring all us tourists clicking away on our cameras.

Oi de Rio!

Oi / Bom dias
Well it wasn´t originally intended that I would come this way, but here I am in Rio. Only a 24 hour bus journey, stopped and searched by the police 6 times (as we were coming from near the border with Paraguay - lots of contraband there), and with me eating a dodgy empanada thing...(meat stuff covered in manioc flour paste and deep fried - it was very tasty the first time...)...and being sick. On the bus. In my lap to be exact. Luckily some nice people helped me clear it all up, and I was only sick for the next 3 hours, and the next day I was completely recovered. Staying at my friend Bruno´s apartment - who I met back in Cusco - we´ve been visiting lots of nice places - we drove to Petropolis one weekend, where we visited the former summer palace of Dom Pedro II, which was really well looked after and pretty, but they made me put my camera in a locker, so no photos. Have seen people warming up for carnival which starts this weekend, although don´t know if I will still be here then.

Have also been on other visits out of the city, to Ilha Grande, a beautiful island with virtually no cars or motorbikes, and beautiful beaches which were nearly deserted in the mornings, so I felt like I was on some paradise island. Also visited Ouro Preto, which is a small colonial former mining town (Ouro Preto means ´Black Gold´), and went down a mine which had a lake at the bottom and went swimming in it! V cold. We took a steep rollercoaster-type ride into the mine, but the rollercoaster thing broke down or ´needed to recharge´when the tour had finished, so we ended up having to walk up out of it, which was fun. And Cabo Frio is another small beach town we visited which was lovely.

In Rio, have visited all the big sites, the Corcovado (The Christ on the hill - we actually walked up using a track through the jungle, instead of paying for the expensive cogtrain up and it was SO difficult, only and hour and a bit walking uphill, but in 37 odd degrees C and high humidity its so much harder - I was sweating like a PIG!), Pão de Azucar (Sugar Loaf mountain), where I saw more lizards (still excited to see them! - I have more pictures of lizards than of humans I think) and some little monkeys came up to talk to us, lots of churches, some museums, Copacabana beach - where I saw the Rolling Stones play for free! - Ipanema, and done lots of walking in the hills inside the city - avoiding the favellas (slums) though of course. Last week there was a big shooting in the favella near where I´m staying, and 6 people died - quite scary no? Have felt mostly safe in Rio though, apart from one incident on Copacabana beach were I nearly got my camera nicked, but the other 4 weeks have been fine. I think you just need to make sure you avoid certain areas, which can be difficult as the favellas are so close to the city, but I´ve had a local to show me around so its been easier!

Eaten lots of meat, but my favourite thing is the sucos - there is a juice bar on practically every corner, and there are more fruits in the world than I ever imagined! Did you know apples, oranges and bananas aren´t the only fruits?!?! The best suco, which is really fashionable with the fit young men, is açai, which is a frozen drink which looks a bit like chocolate, and kind of has a bit of a chocolate taste, but the fruit actually looks a bit like an overgrown blackberry. You eat it like an icecream, and its gorgeous - very high in protein and vitamins and calories, which is why the guys drink it, but it tastes lovely too yum. Feijado is also another Brasilian dish, made of beans and animal ´parts´- the slaves used to eat it, so the only bits of meat they got were the leftovers like feet and ears and other blee stuff. I´m not too keen on it, but there are other similar things with just the beans which are really tasty. Oh , and caipirinhas are very nice too, just lots of crushed limes with ice and a bit of sugar, with lots of cachaça, an alcoholic drink made from sugarcane - also used to be a slave´s drink, but v nice. And v strong.

That Pele has small feet!