An Unexpected Bush Bash

Pavla and I had been talking about going for a hike in the mountains that surround Himeji for ages. Finally today, we had our chance. We'd been told that some wonderful hikes were to be found a mere 30 min bus ride from the station, so we set out at a reasonable hour (no ungodly 8am starts for us, 10 is just fine). We paid a certain price for our lazy ways however. The buses ran so infrequently that, having missed one by 5 minutes, we learned we would have to wait another 2 hours for the next. Bugger it, we thought, there's got to be more hikes around here. Our friendly Himeji tourist centre had a few suggestions: The castle (seen it), Mt Shosha (ditto), the shopping malls (at this point we explained to the nice woman that a): We live in Himeji, and b): We had our heart set on a hike. She suggested we visit a shrine just out of town that had "a hill" to climb.

Okay we thought, even if the hike's not up to much, we can go check out a nice shrine (for the upteenth time). As we made our way (achingly slowly) on a city bus, further and further away from civilisation, we began to wonder just what we had gotten ourselves into. After about 40 minutes of flat fields and (gasp), no convenience stores, we saw a shrine (hurrah), as it sped quickly passed, we regretted not have dinged the dinger a little earlier, for the next stop turned out to be a couple of k's further on.

Instead of hiking back along the road to the shrine, judging it to be the more dangerous route considering the narrowness of the windy road, we decided to go overland. We estimated that the shrine lay just over the summit of an apparently climbable hill. Had it not been for the unbelievably dense bracken and thorns that covered said mountain, our hike would have been a doddle. As it was, it took just over an hour, an hour in which we both rued the fact that we hadn't brought machetes to hack away at the offending plant-life. Instead, we were the victims of countless lacerations to face, neck and limbs as we battled through ferns the height of us, slippery, wet rocks and cursed thorns which seemed to exist if for no other reason than to give us sorely-deserved grief.

So, feeling a little silly, and more than a little stingy after an hilarious hour, we emerged from the undergrowth, face to face with a non-descript factory and a handful of factory-workers who were more than a little amused by our predicament. So were we when we realised that we were pretty-much right back where we started, in that we would have to turn around and walk back along the road to the shrine anyway, as there was no other course.

To be continued, because now I have to get ready to go out for a drink or five.

Robbie, you sly dog, trying to cop a feel of your roomie on your b'day! Christian and Mick, Jon and Sarah.

Robbie's Birthday Do

Me and Lauren, Stu, Ryan and Birthday Boy, and Stu and Lauren's boyfriend Jeff (Jefe), our loverly neighbours, who we are going to miss terribly when we move. Stu will especially miss having someone who lives next door who has bigger eyebrows than himself, ("but he doesn'y have a monobrow", Stu proudly claims over my shoulder).

More of the Dome, and a shot of the Peace Memorial Museum with the eternally-lit flame of remembrance in front.

I just got to say, I had the thrill of my short lifetime the other day when I got to speak to not one, but six of my very special Adelaide buddies on Australia Day. Such perfect timing too, considering I should have been teaching a lesson at that very moment. By some bizarre twist of fate I had a no-show, and didn't have anything else to do downstairs, so I was there to receive the all-important call! So good to hear some long-missed voices. So Geord, Nadsie, Pete, Lachy, Hanne and Jacs, if you're out there, thankyou so much, you absolutely made my day, week, month, year! The only thing that can (and will) top that is seeing all of your smiley faces again, sooner rather than later!

Hiroshima

What can I say about this diverse and fantastic city. First of all, like it or lump it, Hiroshima is now a tourist mecca. As such, the provisions made for any dumbass, non-Japanese speaking yokel are second to none. In particular, there's a very useful map, which not only stands to highlight the city's post-atomic reconstruction (ie, a perfect grid), but provides any number of useful tips for the hapless traveller, including places to eat, things to see and clubs in which to dance and drink the night away.

It's unfortunate Stu and I only had a day and a half to explore the possibilities offered by a city that is at once a disturbing mermorial to a terrible day in history, and a vibrant, fun city in its own right. It has the makings of a really great place to live or to visit, and I will definitely go back. We started out by having the local version of Okonomiyaki, native to this region, in Okonomi-Mura, the birthplace of this unique dish. Okonomiyaki, Hiroshima style is comprised of meat, usually pork, thinly sliced, plus cabbage, spring onions, fish flakes, a speacial kind of batter, eggs, noodles and a special barbeque sauce, all painstainkingly layered infront of you on a massive barbeque plate that acts as both cooktop and plate. It was truly delicious, all the more so for being accompanied by the musings of a friendly man on his break who just happened to speak wonderful English.

We then headed out to track down the Peace Museum, hoping to do all our Hiroshima city musts before we headed out to Myajima the next day. As it happens, we got lost in the pre-dusk light and ended up on the complete opposite side of town, leaving us no time to get to the Museum that day. Turned out for the best anyway, the next day was wet and grey, perfect for the museums, not so perfect for the seascape view of the famed Torri of Myajima. Next time. So the next day we headed to 3 different museums, including the prefectural art museum, complete with local artists and a random Dali (The Dream of Venus). Surprising that we were able to get such a lot in, considering we had to be back to catch the 3pm train to Himeji (again, locals, about 4 hours, but hey, a free ride!).

The night before we went to a local restaurant run by a Peruvian family with Japanese relations. The food was eclectic and delicious, I had fajitas of all things! The best part however, was the nomi-hodi (Pipi, you'll recall a crazy afternoon in Otaru??). Basically, the deal was if you ordered 1000yen ($10) of food, you'd get 1.5 hours of drinking, cocktails, beer, wine, etc, anything. We took full advantage, again proving that such a system's economic success is heavily dependent on the clientelle. Get a couple of beer-belly westerners in there, and kiss goodbye to your profit margin.

After that we went to meet a fellow Nova teacher from Adelaide, Lee and his girlfriend. We had a nice drink with them, and then went to claim the free drink promised us by our friendly Peruvian waiter at his friend's bar. We stumbled back to our small, but clean and functional hotel room at about 3am. We could have gone on, but there was so much to do the next day!

The Peace memorial and the museum were disturbing to say the least, but I can't help but think that some of the atmosphere was lost in the shrieks and chatter of what seemed like thousands of excitable students and tourists. Still, it gave you are very clear idea of what happened at 8:15am that day the bomb dropped, sometimes too clear. Endless pictures of charred skin and radiation scars were sickening in their numeracy. The photographs of giant craters marking the spaces once occupied by massive structures, the sheer expanse of flat, burnt-out land that had been a bustling city 24 hours prior, were the most powerful indictement of warfare I can imagine. As for the A-Bomb Dome, the lone structure that remained in some kind of recognisable form after the blast, was in fact at the hypercentre of the blast, and perhaps more amazingly, survived the effort to wipe all visual reminders of the blast from Hiroshima (and Japan's) collective psyche, stood alone in Peace Park. It stands as it stood that day, unaltered, preserved in its state of semi-rubble. It was beautiful and terrible.

Tottori - Photos

It's good to know that even in the sand dunes of Tottori, a Japanese businessman and his suit are rarely parted. The same can be said for a Japanese woman and her stilletto boots. We saw more thn a few of each while we traversed the sand in our destroyed sneakers.

The spiral staircase looked wonderful, and as such one was not allowed to use it. Lovely things in Japan exist on a strict "look, but don't touch" basis, this includes old structures (fair enough), grass, and plastic food.

A Strange Northern Sector

So After the highlights of Korea, it's hard to believe we could find anywhere quite so strange in Japan. Enter an idea of Stu's to check out Tottori, a place famous for one thing, and one thing only. A giant sand dune. Not one to nitpick over a measley 3.5 hour train ride to get there (for one afternoon), and then the same journey home, I though what the hell, let's go and see a giant sand dune. So we did, and I'm kind of glad. It's the closest I've come to seeing genuine coastline, with real waves, since I arrived here. Mind you, being overcast, cold and rainy did detract from the beachy vibe. So too did the disappointing amount of refuse washed up on the sand. It's amazing considering just how into cleaning their streets the Japanese are, every morning that damn truck comes down our tiny street sweeping and washing away... well... to my eyes, absolutely nothing. Yet here is a lovely stretch of coast blighted by oil drums, detergent bottles, old pieces of rope, wait, I'm sure there's more but I can't remember. Anyway, that's not to say we didn't have a lovely day ambling along the coast, battling rain and wind.

Later we went to check out an absurdly English-looking manor built by one of the Emperors, or one of their relatives atleast. It was surreal to say the very least to be in a musty-smelling, mahogany-clad house, bathed in the wintery afternoon light set in a very Japanese-style garden complete with carp. Then we got back on the train (my butt is not so happy after more than one long train journey of late). It was a fun, strange day, complete with okonomiyaki for lunch.

A Little Culture at Changdeokgung Palace

Seoul Tower in the background by sunset from Changdeokgung Palace. An interesting and starkly beautiful palace, with literally dozens of buildings to explore, if only we had been left to our own devices with the freedom to go where we wanted. Instead we were suttled from one corner of the palace grounds to the next by our affable guide while a not-so-amiable guard watched us like a hawk. Everytime someone strayed a few metres from the group, he would yeel and do his little apr-dance to get them back in line. It was incredibly... organised.

Back to Seoul and New Years Eve

So I spent New Years in Seoul, and it was fun, but not the biggest night I've ever had, Vee, you know what I'm talking about, eh? Anyway, it was lovely, hanging out with the ever-present Stubby, Lucinda and Pavla, two hilarious girls from Himeji who just happened to find themselves in the ROK at the same time we did, serendipetous (ohh, I don't know the spelling there, somebody shoot me, this Jenglish thing is chipping away methodically at any English skills I used to have) to be sure.

We (Stu and I) were staying in a fabulous hotel in the centre of Seoul, on the 22nd floor no less, and we had the girls round to toast the night and crash before they had to catch a very early flight back to Japan. Fortunately for us, we were able to sleep in till, ohh, I don't know, let's say 12...

Anyway, we drank, we ate, and we saw in the New Year in the hotel's bar, counting the seconds down amid crazy drunk Koreans, Japanese, balloons, noise maker-thingies, etc etc. Quite something else, let me tell you, all good fun until we got the drink bill.... $20 for a Vodka Tonic! Outrageous, we paid quickly and slunk back to our room, where we cleverly had the foresight to stock the bar with beers from the restaurant (freebies!), and cheap Vodka (love those alcohol-stocked supermarkets). Rang in the New Year cheapo (for the most part), and passed out at about 3am. Lovely.

Crazy freakin Brazilian dude, "who's that gorilla we all asked", ahhh, the face-licker.

Ahhh, the other half of my frazzled face. Quite, quite hideous, how did that pass the censors?

Above, Steph and Meghan, sadly no ,onger with us having trekked back to that cold cold cold Canadian place. We miss you lovely ladies!

Pure Photos

Steph and her random man practicing their Patrick Swayze/whatshername moves.

Half of my face, or if you like, brain, representing the amount of rational thought applicable to that moment.

Me and my girls, Katy (left) and Lauren.

Osaka - a Night at Pure

Pure it was not. Meatmarket would be a more apt phrase to use when describing this fairly lacklustre establishment. Of course, when we went out on a girls night it was fantastic fun, and more than one of us smooched a sexy Japanese man or two those of us who were not able to smooch atleast had some "pure" fun dirty dancing with any number of sleazy gentlemen. Ahhh, all in good fun. Not the kind of place I'd go on a regular basis (Lauren had her faced licked, literally from eyebrow to chin, by a not otherwise objectionable Brazilian man), but good for a crazy, ridiculous laugh. Couldn't help but feel I might be getting a little old for this crap, but that might have been the watered-down cocktails. Cop a squizz...

A hike to a beautiful temple just in the foothills outside Busan, and one night shot of Daegu, a city about an hour and a half out of Busan. I loved the ornate decorations of these temples, as opposed to the comparatively stark Japanese designs.

Busan from the hills, squids in the markets, more palatable than whole dog carcasses let me tell you, a people-jam in the markets of Busan.

Hakata, Busan and Seoul, in No Particular Order

Some random pictures of Hakata, in particular the beautiful lights display in the ecntre of town and Busan Tower, temples, pagodas and old people included.

Some crazy piccies from the pub and Robbie, Ryan and Timoo's place before I did the face thing. Hope I don't get scarred.