Wandering Scotsman

It was a sunny day today, and to be honest, the one that would have been best to make any attempt on Mount Fuji.

But I went to the theme park. Fujikyu Theme Park to be exact.

And a good one at that.  It was showing it’s age a bit, but I went along with a Canadian guy who is in my dorm, and we splashed out 4400Yen for a days pass.  We then spent the afternoon hopping on and off rides, in a park that has two Guiness World Records coasters.

The Eejanaika rollercoaster is so good it’s got it’s own website (by the way the video on the website just doesn’t do it justice).  It has the greatest number of inversions and we went on it twice.  Fourteen inversions during its 90 second ride. The first time we were first of our batch to get out to the ride but were allocated seats so couldn’t choose – I reckon lives would be lost in a fight over this elsewhere in the world.  The second time we were at the rear, and it was an even more exciting ride as you had the appearance of being at the front, then the back but you were always in the same place, it’s just that your seats rotate as well as the track!

We went on the Red Skyline or something like that, where you get hauled up 60m or something, then you pretty much freefall down.  I’ve been on the one at the top of the tower in Vegas before in the dark, but this ride still gives you a really bizarre feeling – weirder than any coaster I reckon.  We went on this twice back to back, then again before we left.

And off it was to the world’s tallest complete circuit rollercoaster, the Fujiyama, topping out at 79 metres.

And then onto more tame things.  A cracking day and totally unexpected as I had only planned to chill out, and maybe take a bike around the lake for a couple of hours.  11 rides, and probably the most adrenalin pumped day so far!

Mount Fuji also decided to make our day by coming out in full view just after dinner time.  The worst thing about that is I wish I had tried it, especially as the Canadian in my room had tried it the day before.  We celebrated for him last night with a burger, a couple of beers, and watching The Da Vinci Code. We watched this with some French Canadians as well.  No-one thought anything of the Japanese subtitle, especially as French was their main language.  It wasn’t until two thirds of the way through the bloody film I said “I wish it had English subtitles for all the French parts” and all I heard was “oh we worked out to do that yesterday, but we never thought”. Oh well.  Guess I’ll just have to read this to complete my Dan Brown novels!

Some more pics from the theme park :

I also had my first visit to a Japanese supermarket.  Some interesting stuff there, including the octopus!

I finally got to the Mount Fuji area, in particular the Kawaguchiko village, last night after spending all day on trains and buses.  To be fair, most folk thought I was mad coming up from Beppu to Fuji in a day, and in hindsight there were other places I would have liked to stop on the way, but that’s what I get for planning things out last week….it just stuck in my head and I couldn’t be bothered changing it.

So it was at Beppu train station by 0715, 5 train changes as I had to stop off in Kyoto to pick up my 20kg rucksack I left for almost ten days, and two buses.  To be fair, the train changes were easy and twice involved just getting off, waiting on the same platform for a few minutes, then stepping on the next train.  Rail travel here really is a joy.

And now I’m in K’s House hostel – another branch of the one I stayed at in Kyoto.  Now I did think New Zealand had the best hostels, but if I owned a hostel I’d want it to be one like K’s.  Super chilled out, free internet, 50″ plasma TV with free DVD’s, bike hire, superb lounge area including a traditional Japanese section, bunk beds that don’t squeak, fantastic showers, and a great kitchen.

Unfortunately I’m finding it a bit too chilled as I’ve hardly left the place.  I’m getting into a mood of looking into things I can do when I get back so have been doing a lot of research into things online.

You see it’s like this.  I’m only a few kilometres from the foot of Mt Fuji.  It’s cloudy.  I can’t see it.  I didn’t see it from the train yesterday.  All the other treks wouldn’t give you the best views, so basically I’m taking advantage of a quiet hostel.  I may even stay here another night here as I’ll only spend a load of cash in Tokyo (although I am also staying at K’s House there).

I did rent a bike for a couple of hours today though and went a cycle around Lake Kawaguchiko which was more than adequate exercise for one day I reckon!

Speaking of exercise I have had my first work opportunity offered to me from a good friend…..now don’t laugh but I can help him labouring for some extra cash so I may well take him up on that in Edinburgh for a little bit while I pretend to develop other ideas!

I’ ve been very lazy in Beppu. I think moving around, heavy nights and coming to the end of the trip have taken their toll.
I went out in Hiroshima with a few folk from the hostel to sample the ‘start of summer’ festival. It ended up being a good night out of discussions, sake and beer. I headed to Beppu the next day sharing the train with one of the girls from the night out (who was heading to a $250 a day hiking trip!), and did very little.

A good night’s kip (11-12 hours!) was finally had last night and all I did today was head to the hot sand bath and got covered in hot sand for 20 minutes. It was a superb feeling though, if not a bit bizarre, and a bit fake given the location – not quite right on the beach as expected, but worth it anyway.
I had intended to go and see Mount Aso, and active volcano, but I slept past the train, and it was raining heavily and very cloudy, so it would have been a bit of a wasted journey anyway.
Tomorrow (Monday) I’m spending most of the day on the train getting to the Mount Fuji area, slowly getting back to Tokyo.

Unfortunately there is no escape from linking Hiroshima with the A-Bomb dumped there during the war, killing upwards of 100,000 in the process. Luckily it’s quite a nice city, now with plenty open spaces, and apart from the museums and required reminders to the world dotted around the city, you would never know the tragedy that hit the city.

Here’s a picture of a kids little bike and the damage that was caused to metal during the blast, and a before and after model of the city.

What was impressive was a list of telexes sent by the mayor of Hiroshima to the relevant authorities, registering their objection to every known nuclear bomb test since. Can we stop doing stuff like this to each other?
I did the compulsory tour of the museum which was a real eye opener, if not a depressing one.

If you want a superb guide to Hiroshima, check out the Get Hiroshima! website and pick up their clear map when you hit town.

I arrived at the start of the ‘start of summer’ festival so went out for a bit of a mad night out with the crowd in the hostel which was cool. We wandered around the stalls and nibbled away at various street stall food while supping a carry out beer or two. Some of us (not me) participated in the local dances, then we went to find a bar one of the guys wanted to have a drink at, went into a different one, but had a drink anyway. We then moved onto a different bar, and all five of us had a different sake so we could sample a variety. The conversation went from finding out why an American in the group wanted to fight for her country, to the goings on in Myanmar, and everything inbetween. We almost witness our first bar brawl in Japan but it only got wild enough for one of the locals to kick a table (erm, it had nothing to do with us!). A few too many beers, and the night ended while I managed to avoid going to a karaoke bar…….needless to say I was a bit hungover the next day!

In the first bar….

The sake bar 🙂

I got up to go to Hiroshima this morning but decided to head to Nara for the day instead, and take the train over late afternoon.

(Picture : Nara tourism in ‘low’ season)   Again I was surround by schoolkids so I just had a pleasant walk around some temples and shrines but never went inside any of them.  Nara Park was pretty cool though – right in the small city, but full of Shika (I don’t know how you spell this) – pretty much Deer if you are British.  They are so used to tourists (over?)feeding them that they just mingle around right next to you.

I had passed so many of these prayer block in shrines that I decided it was my turn to leave them.  I’m really bad at thinking up instant wishes though so this one was a bit corny!

(Picture : Sin-Osaka station taxi rank!)

I caught the train to Kyoto (faster than heading back to Osaka) to get the Shinkansen.  As I was writing up some travel scribbles I had a flashback that somehow I never had my USB drive I have been using to email.  A quick check and I reckon I left it in the PC at the capsule hotel.  I hopped off the train at the next stop, immediately caugh one heading back (erm, assuming it was the right one), and found out the JR trains to Osaka had stopped running – I’m guessing something happened as it was still early.  I called the place and they reckon they never saw it.  He spoke good English so I decided to cut my losses and head back to Kyoto, loosing 2 hours in the process.

A quick Bento box for my on train dinner and before I knew it was transported to Hiroshima on the Shinkansen.

So tomorrow it’s the Peace Park, the A-Bomb dome and if I get lucky I’ll manage to pop over to an island before heading to Beppu in a couple of days.

After the aquarium I checked into my capsule hotel at Asahi Plaza Shinsaidbashi.  But more of that later.

I was going to have an early night but headed out to explore the nightlife area of Osaka.  Apart from being seduced by an outdoors shop after popping in for a brolly, I wandered around the eating, drinking and shopping area.  As the sun set it all became pretty overwhelming.  So much going on, so much noise from people, some touts, pachinco parlours and so many eating and drinking joints.  It was the first time I’ve felt like that in Japan so far.

All I wanted was a nice little busy yakitori bar.  There were hundreds.  I got fed up looking for one and walking around the same streets to opted for some Takoyaki – octopus balls.  They like balls of dough (kind of) with bits of octopus inside them, along with some vegetables or something.  I don’t really agree with eating them as I’m convinced Japan is trashing the world’s population of octopus!  I then found a quiet bar and sat and read an English language freebie magazine, Seek Japan.

So, on to the capsule hotel.  A very bizarre thing, but a very Japanese thing.  The one I went to was bang in the centre of Ameri-mura, or America-mura which is a shopping (and eating/drinking area) where all the shops have an American (or perceived American!) vibe to them.  I’ll upload a small slideshow with some shopfronts.  Quite funny walking around there and just people watching.  I’d defintely recommend this place as a good one to try out the capsule hotel experience though as it’s in a cracking area.  I went to the capsule hotel, changed into the robe I was given, then headed down for a Japanese style shower, hot bath (like a hot tub type thing) and a sauna.  I then retired to my capsule and almost read the rest of my book.  I had a radio and a television, complete with pay per view porn…if I wanted it!

(Picture : The capsule ‘command centre’ and the TV)

My book was so gripping (Dan Brown – ‘Angels and Demons’) I ended up coming out of my capsule (but that was because of the snorers) and having a beer to knock me out.  2am.

Yesterday I went to Osaka Aquarium which has one of the largest tanks in the world.  The had a frickin’ whale shark and manta ray in there!!!!!  And loads more.  Very diferent from the Sydney Aquarium, which I think I preferred, but very good to see all the things.  I wish I had brought along my earplugs though as there were about 2 billion Japanese miniature schoolkids in there at the same time screaming away (at least it sounded like 2 billion, all wearing bright pink or bright blue, or donning some coloured cap).

They also had king size crabs which looked like mutants.  The appeared to be almost the same size as me (no kidding) and they have pressurised the tank to simulate the depths they usually live at.

One good thing about the aquarium was that I realised how much I have managed to see underwater this year.  I was even lucky enough to see an eagle ray in the flesh at the Poor Knights….and the manta was far smaller than the ones I dived with 🙂 ….and the whale shark was a lot smaller than the one I could have snorkelled with if I didn’t turn back to the boat thinking it had left the area (AARRGGG!)

Once again I’m happy to be travelling outside the main tourism season as it’s busy enough at some places at the moment.  I’m sure the cherry blossoms make some of the places amazing, but it must be absolutely mobbed!

In regards to outdoors shops.

Anyway, I’m sending this from my first night in a capsule hotel. I’ve just been wondering around the nightlife area of Osaka. I’ve had my first sensory overload experience since arriving in Japan. Neon lights everywhere, bars and restaurants, Japanese youths pretending they are american homies, so many restaurants I couldn’t decide…..so I’m about to go an change into my robes, have a shower/bath and retire to my capsule after 6 octopus balls and 2 beers.
I need to escape the cities here.
I was so not on the ball when I left rainy Kyoto that I booked my train tickets to Beppu tomorrow forgetting that I was going to Hiroshima for two nights (at the moment) en route. But with a Japan Rail pass I don’ have to care – I’ll just hop on the Shinkansen to Hiroshima in the morning instead.

I started typing this to talk about the food and experiences I’d miss when I got back, things I’d like when I get back, and things I’d like to be able to buy back in Scotland.  I kindof got carried away in a ‘perfect day’ scenario made up of different things.  It’s raining outside and I should be heading to Nara…..I think I may need to put more work into this…

• For breakfast I’d have several warm Aberdeen rowies with butter and jam, and maybe one with syrup just to push the boat out
• …washed down with a nice strong Laos coffee with sweetened condensed milk
• I’d then head out for breakfast for $2, maybe munching on a couple of feijoas on the way out the door.
• …then decide whether I was going to the glacier or the beach for the day
• On the way there I’d pop in and find some knock off software and music I didn’t really need but bought anyway….then I’d stop off at the handicraft shop.
• On the way I’d stop and take some photos of some really interesting people and laugh at the kids waving and looking at me strangely (hey maybe this is realistic ;-> ), while drawing a face on a balloon and handing it to them, communicating using some mangled form of sign language
• The locals passing me would honk their horn and say hello and wish me a good day despite not knowing me
• I’d check out the state of some online/investment/some kindof business that I magically started to see how my cash was doing
• After a great day I’ll retire to a funky little yakitori bar overlooking the loch for some munchies, while drinking some Beer Lao, washing it down with a warm sake.  Of course I’d be sitting outside listening to some funky tunes I’ve never heard before while chatting to some really cool new people sitting at the table next to me.
• On the way home I’d pick up a hooker and fall asleep.
  (KIDDING!)
• Before crashing out I’d sit out on my balcony overlooking the sea, with the mountains in the background, watching for shooting stars
• When I woke up I’d have a stroll through the fresh food market picking out some stuff for a nice breakfast.
• Then go offroading in my 4×4 to reach a mountain bike trail.
• Of course the camping stuff was in the car so tonight is at a cool wee camping spot in the @rse end of nowhere at the side of a loch (lake for international readers!)….with some cheese and wine.
• After heading back and doing a little bit of work (god knows what, but its relaxed and enjoyable), I’ll head out for a dive in the afternoon.

Yes, there may well be another version of this when I’ve had a proper think about it.