Saturday, 27 May 2006

Today I bought a bike. I like it. And it's purple with a basket. And a bell. How exciting.

So this is it. And, Mark, the fact that it is purple is a positive feature not a negative feature thank you very much.

Friday, 26 May 2006

After my most recent lack lustre post, I think it's time for me to come clean about what I've been doing. This is hard for me to talk about. Not everyone will be able to understand why I doing this, but I'm hoping that you all love me enough to be able to just accept it without thinking any worse of me.

I've been watching old episodes of The Greatest American Hero. There, I've said it now. It's true, I've been spending an awful lot of time with Ralph Hinkley, Special Ed Teacher, Whitney High and part-time Super Hero. He of the red long-johns, cape and blond afro. The man who is not only taming the Special Ed class and encouraging Rhonda to go back to school, but a caring father of the annoying Kevin (who's mother is an international super model and wants custody) and devoted boyfriend of Pam (poor woman is probably emotionally scarred for life after being a victim of eigties hair and make up). Mr H is a cool guy and even veteran tough-guy, Tony Villicana (he of the tight, black t-shirts and medallion necklace), "digs" where he's coming from.

I think I need some time alone now.

Wednesday, 24 May 2006

I can't believe my last post was 6 May. I have no idea what I've been doing since then. Going to work I think. I'm also just getting over a horrible stomach bug that one of those wretched children gave me.

Anyway, I expect something exciting will happen soon. If not, I'll make something up for your reading pleasure.

Sunday, 6 May 2006

Today our plan was to take a picnic lunch and go to Gunma-no-mori park and lie in the sun and read our books. It was an excellent plan but nearly fell to bits when we realised that we didn't have a picnic rug. You'd think that an emergency visit to Cainz would easily remedy the problem but it was not to be. They didn't have picnic rugs. In fact, people in Japan don't generally use picnic rugs - they use leisure mats. A leisure mat is essentially just a small plastic tarp printed with snazzy pictures or cartoon characters. So in order to try to assimilate, we duly purchased a leisure mat. A Poo and Coo leisure mat to be precise.

Here's Poo and Coo.

And here's us lying on said Poo and Coo leisure mat.

We had a great day. We ate cake and got stared at by everyone. Small children dared each other to run up and look at the crazy foreigners.

Friday, 5 May 2006

On Friday we went to the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno. Ueno is about a half hour train ride from Shinjuku where we stayed.

Oh, here's the subway map for Tokyo! Thankfully we didn't get lost, although it's a bit hard to figure how much the fare is when you can't find yourself on the map and you're not entirely sure which is the station you need to get off at.

The Museum was fantastic although it didn't take long for me to reach complete cultural overload. There is soooo much to look at - we spent nearly 4 hours there and didn't even get to one of the buildings or the special exhibition. Anyway, there aren't any photos because I had to leave my camera in the lockers.

Tokyo was fun but I was glad when we got home to Takasaki. The weirdest thing is that I think I missed being stared at. In Takasaki, I feel like a celebrity because there are so few foreigners that everyone stares at you but there are so many foreigners in Tokyo that no one even says hello. Ahh, it's good to be home.

Thursday, 4 May 2006

On Thursday we went down to Tokyo for a couple of days. We had a huge itinerary of stuff to see so be prepared to feel overwhelmed.

Thursday - The East Gardens of the Imperial Palace and the Lulu Guinness shop
Friday - Tokyo National Museum

I know, I know - a massive list of stuff! Not.

So on Thursday we caught the train down from Takasaki to Shinjuku (it was an express train) and walked around for a while. Then we caught the Yamanote Line back to Ueno and walked to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. The gardens were quite beautiful and it's fantastic that they are smack in the middle of Tokyo.

Here's the map for the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace - I've decided I want a moat.

Not all Japanese gardens are tortured trees and ponds. This one is a replanted Edo Period garden - looks like a forest doesn't it?

We wandered around for a couple of hours and lay in the sun for a bit and then had lunch at little cafe in Ginza. After stuffing ourselves with cake we then we took the subway to Roppongi Hills and went to the Lulu Guinness shop. It was very exciting and Mark bought me a lovely Lulu Guinness purse.

Isn't it just gorgeous?

Then we took the train back to Shinjuku and went up the observatory tower of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices which is the tallest building in Tokyo. After that we wandered around Shinjuku before finding our hotel. We had dinner at a French restaurant across the road from the hotel because I was knackered and refused to walk any further.

Wednesday, 3 May 2006

Today we visited the Gunma Prefectual Museum of History which is in Gunma-no-mori Park (which means Gunma Forest) about 10 minutes drive from the Chicken Coop (which is what I now call my apartment).

The museum was really good - they had little pages you could get in each gallery that had an English explanation of what was there. They had it set out in chronological order and concentrated mainly on the history of Gunma so it was pretty interesting.

After the museum we wandered around the park in the sun admiring the huge trees and watching all the little kids riding their bikes and playing badminton (which is big in Japan).

The park was really beautiful and it was such a lovely warm day - look mum - no jacket!

There's also a small river that runs through the park with really big carp living in it.

The ugliest carp in the park contest begins.

Tuesday, 2 May 2006

We woke up this morning in Nikko to bucketing rain. Buster dragged me around the Botanical Gardens and I bitched and moaned because I was cold and wet.

Then we decided to visit Jako Falls even though it was pissing down because Chiji had said it was very beautiful. And it was. Even though it was wet and I was wet, I really enjoyed it. We drove for miles up this tiny, winding road wondering if we were lost and finally reached a carpark. Still not sure if we were in the right place, we just followed the arrow sign post into the forest.

These are the steps going up to the falls.

Up and up we went, climbing the stone steps in the rain. The forest was quiet but we could hear a waterfall up ahead so figured we were in the right place.

Jako Falls.

There was a shrine at the falls and also another path that continued upwards. So upwards we went as the weather began to close in around us. It was so quiet and the only noise was our footsteps and the waterfall in the background.

The clouds coming in around us.

After Jako Falls we had lunch at a traditional Japanese restaurant that served Buddhist dishes - ie. sixty different tofu dishes. But it was kinda cool. All tatami mats, kimono clad waitresses, tiny little dishes and all overlooking a Japanese garden with Bonsai.

Thank you Nikko.

Monday, 1 May 2006

On Monday we drove up to Nikko to visit the temples and shrines. Even though Nikko looks pretty close to Takasaki on the map, it was quite a long drive because the roads are so narrow and the speed limit is 50 km/hr. But the scenery is pretty nice and there are lots of tunnels to drive through so I felt a bit like James Bond (but in a Minica not an Aston Martin) and I kept waiting for the light plane to zoom into the tunnel.

When we got close to Nikko, a whole bunch of monkeys (is that the correct collective noun??) ran across the road. We stopped to take a photo of them but Buster is too slow on the draw so we ended up with a photo of the roadside minus the monkeys.

The photo without the monkeys.

Nikko is a bit of a strange place to visit. All the guidebooks list Nikko as a must-visit destination but we were a little freaked out by it all. There were so many tourists and the whole temple complex was more theme park than place of worship.

The Buddhist shrines are incredibly ornate.

The National Park where all the shrines are is so beautiful.

There are about nine big shrines in Nikko and I can't remember which one this is.

After traipsing around all the big shrines with about 16 million people, we wandered down to the inn where we were staying and they suggested that we visit the Nikko Museum because it wouldn't be open the following day. The museum turned out to be the fully restored Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa Memorial Park. I think this was our favourite part of Nikko because it was so quiet and serene - it felt far more magical than the extravaganza that was the shrines.

The villa was huge and very beautiful.

After the Imperial Villa we walked down along the Daiya River and looked at all the Jizo statues at Gamman-Ga-Fuchi Abyss (which isn't an abyss at all, just a bit of river). These statues are the traditional protectors of travellers and children.

All the Jizo sitting quietly and gazing out over the river.

We also stopped by the Shinkyo Sacred Bridge (which is actually a modern reconstruction of a 17th century original but still pretty cool).

The Shinkyo Sacred Bridge.

We had dinner at little restaurant that I can't remember the name of. We walked in the door and the whole place turned and stared at us. Which was odd because they were all gaijin (foreigners - like us). Luckily the lady who runs it ushered us through to the other dining room where we met this great Japanese guy, Chiji.

Kampai!

Chiji was in Nikko on his own and had spent the day climbing one of the mountains around Nikko. We invited him to sit with us and we shared a few rounds of sake while eating. We were stunned when he told us that he was 70 years old - he seemed so young and full of life - on top of all the damn mountain climbing.