Wandering Scotsman

So I’ve only been in Tokyo for a few hours, and it’s exactly what I thought (even though I’ve been here a few nights before).

I have already been confused at what replacement to buy for my MP3 player….I was decided, then I saw a larger one for not much more….

But in a few hours I’ve already been dreaming…..

One larger MP3 player is almost 33% cheaper than in the UK.

The small MP3 player is 25% cheaper than the UK.

An last minute contender MP3 player is 25% cheaper than the UK.

The Canon G7 camera I almost bought several months ago is 30% cheaper than the UK, and the Canon 400D which I’d love is over 25% cheaper than the UK!

Oh dear oh dear, if my money situation wasn’t as dire I’d be going mental.  You know you have to spend money to save money!!

I’m back at another Ks House hostel and once again it’s superb.  Not quite as cushy and spacious as the one in Fuji, but hey ho.  Although like all hostels with WiFi nowadays there are four of us sitting around staring at screens instead of actually speaking to each other.

Bring on Bangkok I say!  Not that I don’t like Tokyo, I’m just not so willing to spend the cash to enjoy it the way I’d like to (Ninja restaurants, jailhouse bars etc).  In saying that I may be meeting up with an Irish guy I met in Hiroshima tomorrow so it may well go a bit wrong….

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 🙂