China in your Hands..

Sorry the best that I could think of.....

So I caught the train up to GuangZhao a pretty smooth affair, breezed through customs and thought ah this is gonna be ok.... then the touts kicked in.
"Hello.... I am tourist information where are you going?" ..
"Erm" (I cant think of the town I am going to) .. "I'm off to the station."
"Ah great sir, we can get you there in a taxi 100 yuan, we will get you ticket as well as its very busy and you wont be able to get a ticket."
"Oh right, well I have just arrived and would like to take a look about"
".. ok sir"

and repeat until you get out of the station door.

Anyway finally found some money and took a while but managed to get a subway to the station for 6 yuan (100 yuan my arse!) and also even got a 3 hr train journey for 8 yuan. 13 yuan is about a pound!

Bargain!

Arrived in ZhaoXing on the train not really sure where I was going had a hostel that I thought I could stay at but it was just off the map that I had in the guide book. Anyway as I came out of the train station, there was this frenzy as the "laowai" walked down the steps. After thinking I scored a nice taxi - the guy took me towards his bike... hmm .. No. Backpack+Daypack+Bike.... definately "a potential death trap".

Got in a car taxi and pointed to where I thought the hostel was, after a bit of a convoluted route .. the guy definately went round the houses .. reached the hostel it was looking a little shut. Stopped outside the place and nothing nobody around... quick look in the Routh Guide for another hostel .. nada... hotel ok can we go here (point at the map) ... the guy after a bit of time realises what I want and were off....

Anyway the morale of the story is phone ahead when you can... though trying to book a room over the phone is nie impossible unless they speak English. (I guess it wouldnt be if I could speak Mandarin..).

It was a plush hotel though....

Hong Kong

Well I am back, 3 years ago I spent quite a bit of time in Hong Kong and whilst its changed a little... its still the same.
Ended up staying in the Wang Fat Hostel in Causeway Bay, highly recommend this place, good location and pretty cheap/clean to boot.

The heat kinda hit me on my first day and I was sweating buckets but the next day it started to cool down. Met some sound people, Ollie and Dan on the first night and after about 2 minutes delibiration I went out for a beer or 5. Went over to Lang Quan Fong and met some locals on the first night and watched a live band.

Causeway Bay is a pretty cool area with some nice shops about and some amazing shopping arcades. We sampled some of the local cuisine and had a healthy portion of dumplins and dim-sum which I am now addicted too!
In the evening myself and Dan went up to the Peak and took the walk around, its funny although I had stayed in HK before for 2months there were still a load of buildings that I had not seen at all. The sites from the peak are pretty breathtaking... (see pics).

We then decided on going out again in LQF and had a very amusing time watching some proper jocks picking up lady boys... very funny and if you ask me I"ll tell you the story.

By this point China trip was luming, I'd ordered my visa and to be honest I was pretty apprehensive, fortunately Dan mentioned that I get a phrasebook... which has been a life saver (I write this 4 days into my trip!).

I was planning to get the train up to GuangZhao from HK - a 2hr journey....

Osaka to me baby..

... sorry about the title... I know ... I couldnt think of anything else. Leave alternative Suggestions via the comments please.

Anyway so caught the train from Kyoto with my bud Elgon and made my way to Namba station. Ended up staying in a rather plush hotel which had a TV and Radio which played BBC World Service.. superb!

Oh btw the Winter Olympics has started and its been great so far... looking forward to seeing how Canadian get on in the Ice Hockey .. go Canada!!!

Osaka is a pretty big city, actually its the 2nd largest city and I stayed in Minami, which I didnt realise but is the place to be. There arent too many sites to see really the biggest attraction apart from Universal Studios Japan is Osaka-Jo. Osaka-Jo is a castle and actually attracts more visitors than anyother castle in Japan (what a great stat!).

Basically in Osaka, I went to see the castle, tried out the amazing healthy Japanese pizza called Okinomiyaki which has a base made from lettuce, cabbage and welsh onion (yep Gareth, Welsh Onion!) with cheese and various veg. You can choose a large number of toppings including various meats, noodles, eggs.... etc. Anyway the main thing is that it tastes good and is healthy than pizza from Pizza Hut!

I also went to the first British Style pub and had fish and chips... didnt set the world alight but met some really sound Japanese peeps and after exchanging a few musical recommendations they bought me an authentic sushi plate, which was amazing... thanks Youki and friends.

Anyway I also had my first Smack Donalds.. I did pretty well, 2 months - but in my defense I needed breakfast and everywhere was closed until 9:00.

Anyway enough from me here are some pics.
The two lads are a couple of comedians who asked me to get involved with a comedy sketch where I had to slap the guy on the left and say something like Nana-Da, the joke was probably on me.... very Laurel and Hardy!

Its all go in Kyoto.

So finally I arrive via the ShinKansen to Kyoto. This is the sightseeing mecca of Japan with some 2000 or so temples/gardens to check out.

I was staying at K`s Hostel Kyoto which was really nice and met some sound people there. (Hey to Elgon and Richard).

After a bit of a slow start (I got drunk on Saki the night before) we got ourselves up to Kinkaku-ji which is gilded in gold and pretty spectacular (definately the best temple I`d seen so far). This temple build by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu for his retirement home, its was torched in 1950 by an unhappy monk and was rebuilt in 1987.

Next we visted Daitoku-ji which is a series of temples and zen gardens, unfortunately you couldn`t take any photos in the zen garden here but there are some photos from another temple we visited. Each of the gardens has a story behind it and represents a classic Chinese landscape painting.

Anyway the next day I didnt repeat my drunkness and was up early to phone my g/f and sort out accomodation when I returned I joined a big posse who were going up to Gion.

Here we saw some more temples (I havent got the information to tell you what they were called)　but they were beautiful and can be seen pictured here.

Capsule Hotel.

So I thought at some point I should stay in a capsule hotel, you`d be forgiven if you thought the picture was from the Starship Enterprise.

So after meeting up with Jason and his girlfriend who own a bar called MyBar in Nagoya (looks very nice!) for some Tacos and a couple of beers I slept in the dodgy sounding"fuji sauna and capsule hotel".

These places are a pretty surreal, you get to sleep in something which can only be described as a white coffin.. its pretty comfy though also noisy. So once again thank god for the earplugs (cheers Jo).

Everything is provided, pyjamas, toothbrush (of course with paste already inpregnanted on to brush), shaving stuff, hair stuff... bath/shower costs extra though at a 1000 yen (about 5 pounds). The only problem was that the locker was about 5 inches wide and thus I couldnt get my board or backpack in ... left the board with reception and slept with my backpack in the capsule.

Anyway sleep was ok, woke up every 2 hrs and won`t be trying another one but it was worth the experience.

Kanazawa

Kanazawa is a really beautiful place. There are some cities which you immediately warm too and this was one of them.

Situated on the West of Central Honshu, this city used to the 4th largest in Japan and about 700 years ago was the capital of the only Buddhist state in Japan when monks and farmers overthrew the Togashi family.

The station is pretty amazing though sorry I didnt get any photos but there was a clock which tells the time using tiny water fountains.. very cool!

Kanazawa has Kenroku-en, one of the top 3 Japanese gardens and also this crazy temple called Myoryu-ji which is nick named the "ninja temple" due to its complex structure. The temple has special trap doors and hidden steps to allow some on to escape from an enemy.

Here I also managed to stay in a ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese hotel in which you sleep in a tatami room (basically filled with straw mats) and on a futon. The futon was really comfy and the hotel right in the cool part of town.

The city also has a brillant art museum called the 21st Century Museum of Art, some great stuff in there. The building itself is very well designed, super modern and only finished in August 2005. I reckon it is where Ikea gets their designs from!

Monkey See - Monkey Do

I first remember seeing these monkeys a few years ago. A couple of friends showed me a film called Baraka, when I found out that these monkeys lived in Japan I had to go.

Near to Nagano, Yudanaka live a couple of hundred long tailed monkeys. The story goes that they started to dip in the nearby hot pools during the 1960s. A local ryokan owner took pity on them and built a special rotemburo for the "snow monkeys".

They are very chilled and wander past you with not a worry, a few of the little ones were starting mini avalanches on the side of the valley. Very cool anyway you can take a look at them live via the webcam ... only in Japan!

Hakuba (Hakuba47 + Happo 1)

Well I arrived in Hakuba with not much knowledge of where the place I was staying was. It was all a bit of a mad rush and forgot to draw/print out a map. Though all was not lost (*ho ho*), I caught a train and got off at Kanabawa station. Started to drag my stuff down the hill and then was pondering which way to go. It must have looked real obvious that I had no idea where I was going as this bus driver stopped asked me what I was looking for. I told him Hakuba Alps Backpackers, he told me to get in and drove me there.

That was the introduction to the friendliest place I have been too.. after a bit of tooing and frowing. I walked into what I thought was the Backpackers and then thought this cant be it, there are 8 chinese and its too nice - I must be walking into their apartment. There was no reception either ... anyway I went back up after trying the restaurant next door and started to chat to the Chinese. They turned out to be from Hong Kong and were dead friendly. Next Ray who was from Colorado and now lives in Osaka then another two from Osaka (and I am sorry I forget their names) but had a chat with them all and then went for an Onsen and food.

Anyway you get the picture its a nice place.

Went out boarding with Ray the next day, up to Happo One - cloudy and a bit of a white out but all together good fun.
On my return Jason (Canadian but also lives in Japan) arrived got chatting and he told me about a bar he started called `MyBar` which is Nagoya... shall be visiting shortly. Went out boarding with him and the guys/girls from HK for the next two days. By this point it had dumped a load of snow and the conditions were really good.

On the fourth day came two lads from the UK, from Sheffield and they were right sound. Sam and Shaun were both basically nuts and took us down some proper off piste. I had a bit of a fall when I missed a turn and dropped 4ft on to my back... but it definately helped step my game up.

All in all Hakuba was amazing ... great slopes, Hakuba 47 / Goryu are connected with 47 having a snowpark which is pretty impressive.

Totally recommend the Hakuba Alps Backpackers and also their bar, Traxs on the weekends which is how I spent my last night.

Anyway here are some pics.