Finland

I had a 10 hour flight yesterday... it was long!! but i felt more relaxed on the flight... I nearly cried a few times getting t o plane and then getting to hostel etc... but i stayed strong!
On the flight over we flew over Russia (yes ben thats you)! and I was pretty excited about this... but then it was boring and lots of forest.... BUT THEN after about 7 hours I really realised how big russia was!!!! it blew me away all of that space... we flew right to the top of Russia where it meets the sea and then down to helsinki! I saw crinkly snowy mountains, icy lakes and rivers, snowy river banks and a beautiful bright blue sea! which to my delight had big ice sheets over it! and the ice was making pretty patterns in the sea. I then started to realise that it might be cold in Helsinki... and its freezing there are icy breezes blowing through the buildings! It is very much a harbour town with seaguls flying and sqwaking around... and has literally been a cold shock! hehe compared to Japan!
I got really lost after I got my bus to the town center... my hostel is a 15 min walk... but it was very confusing and I took several wrong roads and held my bag as if it were made of diamonds... in my minds eye I could see theives all about!! maybe today I will still think the same... or maybe its just cause alot of finlandians look like lumberjacks and bikers... and have reallly long hair... men and women... or look super rich and euro and drive bmws etc around the cobbelled streets with their roof off and techno pumping...
Anyway after a long search I found my hostel... my room is semi clean... ive slept a whole night in my sheets and no bed bugs and they seemed clean enough even though they look old... the building is old with old school patterened wall paper and carpets and wooden floors... has a very antiquesy look! book shelves... hat stands... decorative wooden furniture
It seems to stay light alllll night here haha... which is safer for me i think... but confusing... it gets darker like the sun goes low behind the buildings and there is an eerie light... like about 5pm 6pm... but at 11pm when i went to sleep it looked like 4pm...
there are lots of pretty parks and i think russiany influenced buildings... like rows of them... a bit st petersbergy from pictures ive seen... a bit latvian looking... haha and very harbour! huge ships and all of that harbour industrial kind of stuff... seem to be tonnes of quirky shops and antique shops everywhere ... but they were all closed yesterday cause of a summer solstice holiday... so the city was kind of empty too!
its a bit daunting but ill get into it more today!!!! i think after another nap though cause its 5am... i jsut saw the computer free ....
ok love lots

Hiroshima at an end...

I have spent this week taking it easy! Collecting my thoughts and trying to relax. I spent the first 2 weeks running around alot and have been exhausted! Every day tasks become so much more difficult with a language barrier. For instance shopping - You cant read anything and as Alex has said you dont know if you are buying a sauce or disinfectant! Small tasks take alot more energy than normal! But that is how it makes things more different and interesting compared to every day life I guess!
I have been bike riding alot, eating good food (okonomiyaki) and hanging out with Alex.
I have also been having lots of weird dreams! Like declining dangerous space missions with Bruce Willis fighting Aliens and another about people throwing bombs at each other in a game and I was wrestling tigers and panthers. I looked up the dream dictionary and it all matched up with feeling alienated, supressed emotions, travel, spiritual journeys and self discovery etc... hehe

(cool bar Alex and I found)

Tonight I went to an amazing Tempura restaurant with the boss of Cut for you - Chief and Machan. We had aprons put on us. There was a special tasting dipping salt, lemon, tempura sauce mixed with grated daikon (raddish) and a salad. Each piece of tempura was served individually and the chef told us what to eat with each item - for example dip it in the salt, half salt half suace, half salt half lemon, straight, curry...
First Prawn neck (legs and shell) with salt - absolutely delicious crispy morsel, 2 prawns, a tender fish, Shitake mushroom stuffed with prawn, lotus root, fish with daikon and lemon juice on top, asparagus, squid and squid in a leaf, Okura (I call them sap pods...cause they are gooey inside and look like a green chillie but not hot), and a sardine (with curry), eggplant, 2 pieces of eel (with curry). Then tendon prawn tempura mix on rice with pipi miso soup and pickles. We drank white wine and then Atsukan (hot sake) The sake made us very warm. Then for Dessert we had a redbean jelly square with macha green tea (the special powder tea that looks bright green) in a big bowl whisked/prepared tradditionally. The red bean was really sweet and the macha was bitter so they even each other out.

(I wish I took a photo of the chef setup... he was very helpful)
This combination made me gooey with happiness. The tempura melted in my mouth - not oily at all - apparently very expensive oil. It was still hot and fresh and there was a big tank of fresh prawns. He served each piece individually as he made it and had been making tempura for 40 years, he was an expert! (Chief was extremely kind as to pay for Alex and my dinner!... Way too kind!) I am so content, warm, fuzzy, nicely full, with a smile on my face right now.
Plus - I have a new haircut. (I think Chief is a great hairdresser and gave me a very interesting haircut!) I am now a travel warrior - about to embark on my journey alone. Fresh, new... Japan is my safe base: I have been here, it is familiar, I have friends here, accomodation, dairy free food, it is a friendly, cute, kitsche, upbeat atmosphere, and a peaceful life style (if you are not working and just eating, drinking tea and bathing all the time like I have been). I think the next leg of my trip will be very different. But I think the first part has helped prepare me for what is to come! Best last night in Hiroshima ever!

Cut for you castle dinner...

On Friday I did a little bit of work for the hairsalon that are friends with Alex and Flic. I swept some hair and washed a few things etc... I felt a bit intrusive and my Japanese skills are not good! But Alex said that Chief likes the staff to practise some english. I helped for the morning and was pretty shy and probably more of a hinderance than help hehe... but they were really nice to me. It was very quiet so I left at around 3.
Tonight Cut for you Hair salon wanted to take Alex and I out for dinner! We all piled into 2 cars - ours had a tv/dvd player for us all to watch music clips haha... We drove for about an hour through alot of tunnels and past mountains and rivers following the cars directions...until we got to this nice restaurant that was styled like a castle. It was built into the mountain and forest and there were lots of lanterns... it was quite spectacular! Inside it was really castle fashioned with lots of armour of warriors etc... that were kind of scary! Chief wanted to Choose dinner for Alex and I and we got soba noodle soup, a giant rice ball with little fillings in it, a big crispy tasty chicken wing on a stick... it was huge..., gyoza, baked fish on a stick, and this marbled beef that we cooked on a bbq at the table... it was a tremendous feast! everyone had dessert... I had a little taste it was like an icy redbean sweet... but I was way too full!! THey gave me a little purse souvenier present and shouted Alex and I dinner... I cannot believe how kind and generous they were! We had SUCH A GREAT TIME! the food was delicious and the company was very interesting and funny hehe... Chiefs english is very good
After dinner Cut for you team took us to a really old bridge... I can imagine in the day there would be amazing scenery... but it was a bit dark to take photos... but it seemed like a really old bridge with big arches (we walked across) and a stream and mountains and forest all around etc... it was about another half hour drive from dinner... It was a very nice walk hehe and lots of fun!

Beppu!

This weekend I went to Beppu with Alex. Beppu is on the main south island called Kyushu. It has alot of hot springs and therefore is a bath house town! We stayed in the Khaosan hostel, which was really nice! It had a big rocky bath and free internet and clean bunks etc... it was very comfortable!
Alex and I got there Friday night and then Saturday had a really full day of bathing! I had 3 baths!
We caught a bus to an onsen area around 20 mins from the center of Beppu. On the way we found a really strange statue. It is of a man that is kind of leaping forward... and the statue sign says that he is called Shiny Unkle and that he loved children. It was very strange and connoted alot of weird suggestive ideas.

Anyway Alex and I spent the first part of the morning pretty lost... walking around the hills through the suburbs with steam rising out of drains from the hot springs. Finally we found our way and definately needed a bath! The first onsen we went to was called Hyotan. It was fantastic! I think I spent over half an hour trying all of the different baths... and my bathing etiquette is much better now so it wasnt stressful at all! The first bath I tried had these water jets pouring down and you could stand under them or sit under them to massage your back! They water was very powerful but I got a good back massage. There was also a wooden bath and a pebble bath and another one with all of these rocky pools and one with a religious statue etc... there was also a sauna but I didnt use it... I loved the open air out door bath - it had a waterfall.
After our baths Alex and I met back again for lunch and had tasty chicken tempura, miso soup, tofu, rice, pickles, etc etc which were all specially prepared with hot spring water like hot spring steamed etc... We had a little nap on the tatami nap... everyone seemed to be doing this after lunch...
We had another bath at Hyotan after lunch! and then went on an adventure up the mountains and went to one of the Jigoku (hells) which are some hot springs that are for viewing but not bathing... I think you would cook yourself. There was a massive one that was cobalt blue (something to do with the sea) and a red muddy one that was bubbling away. They were pretty impressive. Alex and I had a foot bath there aswell. There were some really beautiful red gates... and they were open... something about letting the spirits and god flow through. I think what I understood from the conversation tonight was that it was god... and similar to Miyajima Island etc...
After that Alex and I had one more bath at a little public bath house and it was free... some little old ladies talked to me and I didnt understand. One guestured to me as I was putting my jeans on and laughed... Im not sure why... maybe telling me they were tight or something lol
The bath houses were very relaxing and I was soo tired after the day!
ALex and I shared a carton or two of plum wine at the beach after dinner... plum wine is so sweet and nice! but today I am suffering the consequences! Plus I was given some home made plum wine today as a gift!!! ahh! hehe




Alex and I went to a really big old bath house in the morning before heading home! It was wooden and very tradditional looking... the bath was fairly small... but SUPER HOT!!! omg... Alex said that he couldnt even get in the bath! I had to ease my way in and I was bright red... like a cooked crab... !! I kept my arms out though... it was so hot if you moved a little bit... So I didnt stay in there TOO long... incase I might cook all of my innards...

biking hiroshima

HIROSHIMA TALES -------
Last night, I had a delcious feast of Fresh shushi with Alex at a nearby pub. I ate tuna, shrimp, squid and octopus and a few other types of fish. Alex and I also shared a plate of Octopus Karage - deep fried octopus pieces. It was delicious for sure! We drank very tall beer and a drunk man sat at our table and tried to talk to us for an awkwardly long time. He was arguing with his wife about which umbrella was his. Alex and I rode our bikes one handed, holding umbrellas in the other to a french style pub after dinner. It was a super delicious night!


It was a magnificent sunny day today. The sky was crisp as apposed to the usual haze. I rode my bike all day around the rivers. I bought a bento lunch box and rode into town. I had to go to a service station to get my tires pumped up and there were two lovely guys there! They filled my tires for free and one of them even got out some tools and fixed my bike a bit. The other man gave me a fan to fan myself with whilst I waited. I bowed and waved goodbye and rode along the river unil I found a nice spot to sit on a bench with a view of the river. To my surprise... my bento box was all shaken up inside... and also another surprise was that I had ordered those tiny little fish again!! Yuck! All over my rice little white fish.
Just as I was about to eat my lunch I heard this awful screaming from across the river. I thought that maybe a woman was being raped or attacked or something. I could just see across the river a woman running down the stairs to the river and she jumped in. (there is like a big sloping wall against the river). She stood in the water screaming at the top of her lungs. At first I felt really sick and thought that maybe her child or baby or something had fallen in. Im still not really sure what happened... my guess is that maybe her pet or something drowned. There was a man there with her and I couldnt see an ambulance or them rushing back up the stairs in a hurry or anything like that. It seemed to me that they had accepted whatever had happened, so I dont think it could be a human life. She was sobbing alot and they sat by the water for a long time and he was comforting her. I think that something definately went in the water... Im still wondering though.
After that river drama I set off on a long bike ride following the river for about an hour or two. Bike paths seem to follow the rivers FOREVER... The river was sparkling and I rode past alot of buildings and grassy slopes and mountains. There were lots of people walking little dogs on the grassy slopes by the river. I saw children playing under bridges and also a sax player on a dry river bed under the bridge. There was also an island in the middle of the river that was like some sort of crane/ bird island... it sounded like a bird party.
Had a nice drifty day today just taking in the sights :)

commenting issues...

I have made it now so that you dont have to have a google account and password to leave a comment... I hope that helps mum and Lucinda and anyone else... just remember to leave who you are when you do! xxx

eating Hiroshima

Yesterday I did alot of exploring around Hiroshima. Alex has leant me one of his bikes so I can ride around while he is at work. At first I was scared to leave the apartment incase I could not find my way back! But after a litte bit of riding I started to get my bearings. I made a little map with some landmarks so I could remember where things were: for instance the river, school at the end of the street, bridges, service station etc... I did lots of riding around the rivers and worked out that if I follow the bend around the river I can get to Hiroshima Dome and from there can get to the main shopping area. I rode into the city and got a rice ball and juice for lunch and did some drawing at Peace park. It was a really beautiful day to be out in the park! The green grass and flowers around the rivers make it look alot like spring; very pretty scenery. I rode from about midday until 6pm and then when Alex came home from work he cooked some dinner. We had some plum wine after dinner and went for a night ride around the rivers and then the night life district!
Today Alex and I had some Octopus balls for lunch/breakfast for me. I cant remember the Japanese name for them but they were really yummy. They had a piece of octopus in the middle and some sort of batter around the outsde... crispy on the outside but gooey inside.
Then Alex suggested I might go to Miyajimi Island today for a look around. I did not realise it was so close. It was about a half an hour train trip from where Alex lives and then a short ferry ride across (both fares covered on my JR pass... so no extra cost!) It was a really beautiful warm day for the beach and the ferry ride to the Island was really pretty over looking the mountains and there was a cool breeze! The island had alot of piney forest but the side I was on not really sandy beaches... The island is famous for its water temple/shrine that is built over the sea, with its main big red gate way out in the ocean. The island apparently (from what Alex has told me) is supposed to be the island of gods and is very sacred etc... and that there are no cemeteries or hospitals on it because they are impure and such. Also there are heaps of wild deer running around on the island and they are really friendly and will let you pat them if you want to. They just hang around and walk around with the people. I walked around alot looking at shrines and the sea and drawing and trying little snacks and walking through the park etc... For lunch I had oysters grilled in their shell (oysters are the islands specialty and I noticed a big Oyster farm on the boat ride over). I got 3 from a stall and the chef cooked them fresh and cracked them open and I had them with lemon and a beer. It was a very relaxing day :)
Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery so there are not as many photos as there should be.

Arriving in Hiroshima

READ LAST DAY TOKYO BELOW FIRST
After 2 jet speed train rides ... I arrived in Hiroshima at about 10.30pm (where Alex luckily found me at the pay phone trying to call him. ) Alex was dressed in his Japan fashion, looking a bit like a cowboy - Hiroshima Lone Ranger. The Yukata festival is on in Hiroshima for the weekend so heaps of people were dressed in kimono style fashion! So NO people in Japan dont all normally wear the yukata outfit and little clog thongs everywhere! just so you know...
Alexs apartment; is very nice! and has lovely views of the mountains and a big shower/bathtub and kitchen, loungeroom and bedroom. It has a nice feel to it. I plan on splashing around in the bath tub all week whilst alex is at work and making a nice water bill for him!
Hiroshima night 1; jumped on bikes (mine blue with a basket and a night light), followed alex zipping through the Hiroshima streets and over bridges and dodging people (with the wind in my HAIR as you dont have to wear a helmet here!) , rode passed Hiroshima dome and into the city nightlife area,
the streets were very messy due to the yukata festival with lots of drunk people everywhere! but it was very exciting and mind melting in a way just because so much was going on, went to a gaijen bar... like a foreigner bar and we had lots of beer and umeshu (plum wine) and chatted to people, we had convenience store beer which was only $2.50! and we drank in a little park with lots of flowers (which is also ok)! and then found our way to MAC bar where a big guy with a pony tail puts on popular western cds of your choice... I requested bob Marley and we drank more beer. It was a very cosy dark bar with a HUGE CD wall. Alex said to me something like you dont need a liqure licence to have a bar in Hiroshima or something... and that there were about 1000 bars in Hiroshima... Futatsu (insert drink name) O one gai shi mas. (Ill have 2 beers please) Danced and jumped around until too tired. Walked outside of the dark bar... and it was LIGHT ... about 5am!!!
Day 1 Hiroshima;
Had a very wobbly blury bike ride back to Alexs place... but the morning was beautiful ! Alex says that the rivers are his fave part of Hiroshima... and I agree really beautiful riding along the river and over bridges etc.
Slept in til 1 pm and had some recovery time with a very big headache. Then went to the Yukata festival with Alex and there were yummy street stalls with - octopus on a stick, meat on a stick, sausage on a stick, seafood on a stick, pancake thing on a stick, chicken on a stick, pork on a stick, toffee strawberries on a stick, toffee orange on a stick, chocolate coated banana on a stick etc... but we didnt get a meal on a stick. We got some street Okonomiyaki sort of thing ... like the cabbage pancake thing with strip of bacon on top and an egg and big glubs of sauce and mayonaise... it was quite delicious... with a frozen mango juice drink! then I had a toffee strawberry stick and got toffee all over me.
Nursing our heads we rode back to Alexs and slept some more before going to the hair salon where Alex and Flics friends are (Where flic did like a homestay thing for a while etc)
I felt really retarded when I got there and immediately forgot all of my Japanese out of shyness. The head hairdresser is named Chief. Everyone there seems to be really artistic and creative and are into films and photography and painting etc etc... and are wearing gorgeous fashion. Chief seemed pretty interested in my hair and apparently likes to try and find out a bit about his clients so he can give them a hairstyle that fits their personality. He seems to have alot of drive and big ideas and was talking about his plans and designs for updating the hair salon. very slick designs! We went for japanese curry and Chief was extremely kind to shout us dinner. He also gave me some shampoo and conditioner. I felt really embarrassed and shy the whole time though because I was fairly out of the loop and didnt have much to offer to them.
Alex seemed to be able to speak and understand alot of japanese! even though the whole time hes been telling me hes really bad at it and only knows BASIC in my opinion he was definately IN the LOOP! hehe
ok well maybe I should go practise some more Japanese etc... sweet dreams everyone... it is 3am...
I will write my last day with maruna blog and publish some photos tomorrow

Last Day Tokyo

I am leaving Tokyo on a Shinkansen Hikari 423 super express to Shin-Osaka where I will change trains for Hiroshima. Overall a 5 hour 2o min trip. Maruna was kind enough to come to Shinagawa station wih me. We had an extremely rushed time getting to my train with about 2 mins to spare. (after missing earlier train) With Maruna yelling out behind me PLATFORM 24!!! non-reserved carriage 1-5!!! (looking after me well) I really loved staying at Marunas and spending the day wiht her today! She looked after me so much I felt really bad for he interpretting everythign for me! Today was warm and sunny and Maruna had the whole day off! So we caught a bus and train and went to a really nice park (which I have forgotten the name o alrady). The park is near an art uni and on the weekends they have a uni markets ... that is pretty casual selling art and jewellery etc... There were some really cute shops leading down to the park - kind of hippy alternative as apposed to poppy kind of clothes in the city. Also a dog clothes and dog cafe shop so hence adorable jacket and ribbon wearing poodles and dashhounds and chiuahuahs etc... big range of SUPER CUTE dogs!!! Anyway thepark was really green and overlooking a little river with row boats and more swan paddle boats and people playing music and singing and the markets and people having picnics and street side BBQ stalls like yakitori sticks. Maruna and I gotsome Yaki soba - cooking up meat, cabbage and noodles on BBQ and got a Smirnoff each to eat/drink in the park! (coronas were only $3). It was very nice and pleasant! wewalked the parkets and prayed at the temple for each others health and safe journeys etc. Maruna showed me how to was my hands in the fountain at the shrine properly and hit the gong wth the rope before prayer etc... We also read our fortunes for the year at he shrine. Mine talked of travel - something about being hard in the beginning but through perserverance will pay off. It also said I would be worrying alot abou my relationship and feeling distant ...but not to worry because it would be ok. Both of ours meant that we were not the luckiest but a bit luckier then average. There was more that I cant remember but I hope it comes true.
There was a little zoo in the park we could visit for $4 so we had a little wonder. Maruna was in heaven in the guineapig pen... with about 100 guineapigs that people could hold. - kids going nuts!! We went to see the elephant too but I was sad he didnt have alot of roaming space... he loked a bit bored.
THe train I am on right now is sooo fast! It is zooming like it might take off. past suburbs, rice fields, mountains, through mountains, seaside, tunnels, industrial/factories, its hard to get used to the speed.

Im safe at alexs now... that is all... incase you were wondering... and pretty badly hungover today... blog later...

Losing blog writing motivation due to lack of comments.

Current status: Just having a rest after a long day I have VERY sore tender feet tonight... they have not experienced so much walking in a very long time. I also have a very full belly from eating to many Japanese veges (just had some snow peas, carrot and potato and then this squishy stuff that soaks up the juices across between bread adn tofu, and some jelly like stuff with bits and pieces in it... and aniother green type of jellied stuff... and also some like egg like stuff... that could have been a vegetable im not sure... but this is like a typical vege mix... minus the burdeka root... i made that burdeka name up... but its something similar... its like root and u cut it and it is kind of holey like lotus or cheese... but its yummy... carroty ... root vege like texture AND i drank some vege/fruit juice)

What did I do today?
The sun came out again today AND Maruna had this morning off! so we went to Shinjuku for lunch/breakfast... and we ate at a Pasta Joint... but Japanese pasta joints have alot more creative recipes... Maruna had a very green herb, Prawn and acovardo pasta and I had a pasta with chicken, crab strips, sour plum, seaweed, herbs and like a japanese syrup sauce... it was very unsual... but tastey I think! I wondered around Shinjuku for a while after Maruna went to work and it was warm and the sun was shining and this definately lifted my spirits! The city is much more bareable when it is not raining and there are umbrellas everywhere and its cold etc...
I next went to Harajuku but instead of heading to the usual shopping mall I took a turn towards the lush green trees... which actually lead to a beautiful temple and walk through the forest! it was very peaceful and sunny and green and a nice breeze etc... There were really big black crows everywhere though! swooping through the trees... and cAWing alot... THere were these big wooden archways... I walked around the forest for ages until my feet were aching and I finally found a bench to sit down and drink my juice popper. I took my shoes off and I think that just made my feet swell up more! lol... After my rest I hobbled to the cobbled shopping area and enjoyed the busy atmosphere and sales etc! the fashion in japan is sooo beautiful...but alot of really baggy floaty tops and dresses... and layers... its hard to know if it fits or not!
ok well then I started walking more and found myself in the designer part of harajuku... and I kept walking and walking and then found myself arriving in SHIBUYA!!!!! ... cant believe I walked all the way there!!! my feet were burning and stingingand there were NO SEATS!!!
made my way to a restaurant with set meals just to rest my feet!
Shibuya was buzzing in the afternoon sun and I just sat and watched the skyscrapers with big screens and people crossing the road madly for a fair while!!
PEAK HOUR TRAIN!!! crammed in ... and limped all the way home...
Had a really good day!! very rambly just like my blog...
also this might be my last blog... because no one seems interested in reading... i dont get any comments or anythign ... you dont have to have an account to comment you know...