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