Friday 25 May 2012

So Much Nicer

Regular readers will know that this is our "travel" blog, and not for ordinary travel, at that.

This post is about one of the world's most fabulous of travel destinations - England on a summery day.

Today, Clare and I came for lunch at the John Lewis Partnership's country pad beside the Thames in Berkshire. We ate in the open and then strolled along the river under a cloudless sky.

It is a mayfly day. Two sat on my leg the whole time I was eating, and stayed there whilst I went indoors, answered nature's call, and returned.

The birds are singing and we're just off home, via a garden centre, for a barbecue in the back garden of our home. Bliss!

Health note: The tests on Clare's tum came back clear, so she's done a 3-day fast in the hope of shaking the last traces of her ailment. The original plan had us flying to Bangkok today, but now we have to make a different plan.

We'll stay home this weekend (the Monaco Grand Prix - my favourite F1 race of the year - is on anyway) and see how we are on Monday; maybe going away in the UK for a couple of days, with the hope of being ready to travel at the end of the week.

Saturday 12 May 2012

Quick Update

We got safely home on Monday and our body clocks have been gradually adjusting ever since.

I've now put our photos from legs 1 & 2 up on Flickr - see the link on the right.

Clare is feeling slightly better, but not cured, and awaiting test results (a whole week away). Our thanks to those who have sent best wishes.

We don't intend to leave the UK until Clare's properly well again (which would ideally be before May 25th).

Saturday 5 May 2012

Heading Home

Dave's Tale: An Abrupt End

Clare's had an upset tummy since around the time we left China. The symptoms have been intermittent, but haven't really cleared up despite trying various approaches.

This was really reducing Clare's enjoyment, especially of the bits we normally like best, such as chilling in cafés or bars and the whole culinary side of travel.

The key question was whether Clare would rather have a day in Japan in her current condition (now), or a day well in the UK (after she recovers). After some consideration, Clare preferred the latter.

We e-mailled ever-helpful Lucy at FlightCentre, who found out our options (changed dates for our Etihad flights via Abu Dhabi or new direct flights with BA). On the offchance, I checked on the BA website whether my Avios points were any help (they never have been before). Amazingly, reward flights were available - I guess nobody wants to travel from Japan to the UK on our bank holiday at the end of their Golden Week.

Initially we just booked for Clare to come home and see her doctor, while I gave Tokyo a better chance to impress and stuck with the flights we'd already paid for, a few days later. That was fine while Clare had a persistent but apparently not serious condition and was fed up rather than upset.

However, on Saturday 5th she woke feeling nauseous. She made it through the train journey from Hiroshima to Kobe, and felt just as bad at the end. As soon as I could get on the Internet I booked myself on the same flight.

My sister-in-law's sister lives in Japan with her family. Through the trip we'd been e-mailing about meeting up, and today was the day. Clare didn't feel up to it, but was keen that I go, so I took the necessary trains and about an hour later Maire met me at the station.

I had a tremendously enjoyable afternoon and evening with them, even though I'd meant to leave before the evening got a grip. It was lovely to be with a Japanese family, within a Japanese home, but with Irish-born Maire who could answer all my questions. Heated loo seats are, apparently, quite a consolation when it's winter in houses mainly built for sweltering forty-degree summers, and mornings are below zero!

I jumped on their wi-fi and walked Clare round the place and assembled faces over a video Skype session from her sick-bed.

I drank a lot of Kirin, sake and Italian red wine. I ate a variety of things including a squid biltong/jerky, netto (beans and fermented curd), plus the more mainstream sushi, barbequeued beef and toasted rice balls. Not to forget brie and camembert with Ritz biscuits :-)

I ended full and pleasantly tiddly. I really enjoyed making the acquaintance of (sister-in-law's niece/nephew) Shona and Aaron, and finding out a little bit about how they saw the world.

I got back to Clare far, far later than originally intended, but Clare was glad I'd had a nice day.

Tomorrow will be all about getting to the hotel near Tokyo Narita airport, and the following day about getting on the plane. Even though it's at a 12 hour 15 minute flight, we only land 4 and a quarter hours after we take off (due to the magic of time zones) and so will get to enjoy bank holiday Monday evening at home.

Clare's Tale: Tummy Troubles

The upset stomach which has plagued me on and off since leaving China and arriving in Japan, finally got the better of me and we booked an earlier flight home just for me on
Monday 7/5, a direct BA flight into Heathrow. Flight time 12 hours compared to around 23 with Etihad, which on our return journey included a 4 hour stop over at Abu Dhabi.

I have not really had a whole day eating normally for well over two weeks; food and drink are, of course, a major part of a holiday and I have found it frustrating and upsetting that I have not been able to enjoy this part of the trip or eat anything without it upsetting me; it's also not nice being ill away from home in a country where you don't know the language. Thank goodness Japan's public toilets are plentiful and clean - hurrah!

Today 5/5 I woke up at 3.30am again with an upset tummy - I only had a salad last night, thinking this was playing it safe, but hey ho here we go again. Think its best not to eat at all or stick to dry biscuits or bread which is all I seem to be able to tolerate.

We were to travel to Kobe today and also visit Dave's sister-in-law's sister and family who live not far away. However, I felt so rough during the train journey to Kobe that we came direct to our hotel, where I stayed and Dave went to meet up with them. I was very disappointed not to go, would have been nice to meet them and see a real Japanese home, but as I think there were a few trains to get to where they live, I felt it was better for Dave to go and enjoy himself and me to stay in hotel nursing my dicky tum.

We did, however, do a video link on our iPhones, so I got to 'meet' Dave's sister-in-law's family and it looked as though Dave was having a good time.

Dave has now also booked on the flight with me to come home. He was looking forward to spending the last couple of days in Tokyo, coming back when we were originally scheduled to, so I am disappointed for him, but have to say I am secretly pleased not to be travelling alone.
Dave is so one in million and I love him to bits.

Rob is picking us up from the airport on Monday afternoon and first job on Tuesday will be to get a doctor's appointment.

Friday 4 May 2012

Hiroshima

The most important thing to say about Hiroshima (from the tourist PoV) is that it's a bustling, modern city and none of it is fire-blackened anymore.

Apparently, the type of radiation produced by the bomb had a very short half-life, so the radiation was down to a millionth of its original level after just one week. Plants even within a couple of hundred metres of (what the museum calls) the hypocentre survived - I've seen some of them - and green re-emerged within months. Nature is a lot more robust than we sometimes think, and will come out on top in the end (in some form or other).

The main symbol of the bombing is probably the wrecked building now known as The A-bomb Dome. This is brick-built rather than reinforced concrete. It isn't blackened, and it now sits in the middle of a lush lawn surrounded by beautiful azalea bushes (plus a steel fence and alarm system).

In 1945 the city was mainly comprised of wooden buildings, which were flattened and burned, leaving the few concrete buildings standing as isolated shells. Part of the destroyed area is on an island between rivers (the city was founded on a river delta) and the north end of this island is now a Peace Memorial Park, green with grass and trees.

I shall note without further comment that this includes:
Peace Cairn, Peace Bell, Peace Fountain, Peace Tower, Peace Clock Tower, Peace Memorial Mailbox, Stone Lantern of Peace, Gates of Peace, Statue of Peace, Flame of Peace and Pond of Peace.

On the first day we went in to the underground Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. Near the entry we listened in silence to recordings of survivors' awful stories of dead and dying parents, siblings or children.

We walked down a spiral slope to the circular main room. I noted some phrasing from the plaques on this slope: "Japan walked the path of war" and "mistaken national policy".

Such phrasing annoyed me, and made me concerned about how Japan now sees itself at that time, bearing in mind Japan's role as aggressor and committer of war crimes (not least the "Rape of Nanjing", so fresh in my memory after our recent visit).

However, the following day I visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, nearby in the Peace Memorial Park, where the signage was unflinching in giving a historically accurate account.

In the light of this, I moderated my view of the Memorial Hall wording. I suppose it needs to also allow grieving for the lost by people who don't regret any Japanese actions and still think they were in the right but simply lost the war.

The main thrust in Hiroshima, apart from pro-peace, is anti-nuclear. Apart from global annihilation, the principles underlying the use of individual nuclear bombs in war seem a bit muddy to me. Any Japanese argument against bombing of civilian populations seems to have been lost through their actions in China in 1938. Any argument based on scale should note that the second deadliest bombing of the war was not Nagasaki, but at Tokyo on 9-10 March 1945.

So, that's the "Elephant in the room" dealt with, now back to our normal narrative-based approach...

Several people we've spoken to (including the lady in the Hiroshima Tourist office) were surprised that we were staying in Hiroshima as many as four nights. Admittedly the last of those was just because it's Golden Week here, with three national holidays in the space of one week, and we couldn't find a hotel room anywhere else.

On May 1st we arrived on the Shinkansen around lunchtime and in the afternoon walked to the Peace Memorial Park, taking a rest at a riverside coffee shop mid-way. We caught a tram back.

Routes 2 and 6 run between Hiroshima station and the A-bomb Dome, with a flat fare of 150Y. Enter at the rear and pay the driver at the front when you exit, much like Kyoto city buses.

On the 2nd I went to the Peace Memorial Museum while Clare stayed in and rested.

The next day we headed for Miyajima Island, set in the inland sea. We caught the train, walked to the ferry and were on the island well within an hour of setting out.

I think anyone would have to be advised to ensure they visit Miyajima at high tide. We got there dead at low tide. The Torii (like a huge wooden arch) is built on the beach so that it appears to be floating when the tide is in. For us, not only was it not floating, but it was completely hidden in scaffolding.

We strolled across the sand, picking our way across wet patches, and spent a long time sitting on the far sea wall, chatting.

We planned to stroll back through the Itsukushima shrine, mainly a series of open-sided corridors, painted a tasteful bright orange, that would span out over the sea when it's in. Unfortunately, there was a sign saying "entry at other end only", so we decided to pass on the walkways-above-the-dry-beach, particularly when we got to the other end and saw the length of the queue.

We visited the "Hall of a Thousand Mats" instead. A tatami mat is around 0.9m x 1.9m (with regional variations) and room size can be expressed by the number of mats that would fit on the floor. Not particularly impressive, and undersized (I suppose the more accurate "Hall of 857 Mats" would sell less well) but built in 1587 so worth a nod.

May 4th was another public holiday, and also the second day of the Hiroshima Flower Festival, which apparently attracts 1.6 million visitors each year. We caught the tram to the A-bomb Dome amid sizeable crowds and queues. Nevertheless, the service was rapid and efficient.

We strolled through the Peace Memorial Park to see what the Flower Festival was all about. We weren't impressed. The flowers were still in their pots and just sitting on frames on the ground. There were about thirty oversized (2-3 metre) origami cranes next to them and some majorettes performing at the side. We've seen far better events and couldn't understand what the fuss was about.

We walked back up to the Central Park, featuring a large flat sandy area and failed attempt at an artificial stream feature. Then on to Hiroshima Castle, which follows the national style of moats and stone-faced banks. I paid to climb up the castle tower, rebuilt in 1958, only to find once inside that it was all made out of concrete with mocked-up exterior.

Ultimately, I suppose it'd be easy to see everything that's distinctive about Hiroshima in one day, with another day or half at Miyajima (at high tide). We took it easy, frequenting a certain coffee and cake shop just between station and hotel every day. Hey, we're on holiday!

Kyoto

We bought two Exchange Orders for Japan Rail (JR) Passes as the very last thing before we left the UK. With so much focus on getting into China, I'm afraid I didn't consider Japan as much as I should have.

On the morning of the 26th we went into the tunnels under Tokyo's Ikebukuro station and found the central passageway. We couldn't spot the JR Service Centre that the website had told us about, but Clare spotted an information booth and as we approached, we saw that they would swap our vouchers for the go-anywhere rail passes. This they did, with impeccable politeness and perfect English.

That done, we went into the JR ticket office, handed over my scrap of paper with the bullet train times we wanted to travel on and walked out with seat reservations.

We strolled away feeling very pleased with ourselves, but really it was like "kicking in an open door".

The following day we caught a train on the "outer loop" to Tokyo station and found the Shinkansen (bullet train) area. The only problem we had was that we'd arrived slightly too early and had to wait for the platform to be displayed.

Near the platform I spotted a snack stall and bought a lunchbox by looking at the pictures and signing the relevant number to the lady with my fingers.

The train came in to Tokyo, was turned round and went back the way it came in. I say "turned round" literally, because the cleaners went through and rotated every pair of seats to face the other way, just as we'd seen on the Narita Airport Express.

Once on the train, I unwrapped the paper round the lunchbox and found a wood-effect box (polystyrene if you looked closely enough), with a lid and divided into 12 compartments.

Some of the contents were various types of sushi or sashimi, which I love back home. However, quite a few I had no idea about, but ate them anyway.

I was just thinking that all I needed for perfection was a beer, when a trolley came through and even that was solved.

The train sped through the countryside even faster than the bullet trains in China. There are yet faster Japanese bullet trains, but our JR pass doesn't cover them.

So much of the Japanese countryside looked very much like England to me, except the buildings which resemble those in the suburbs of US cities.

Where we saw land under cultivation (I don't really feel I can call it farmland), it was in much larger parcels than we'd seen in China, reflecting (I guess) a far higher level of automation.

Clare has taken the role of hotel-finder, while I stick with transport. She'd chosen the hotel beneath the Kyoto Tower. This is right outside the station, sits on a 9-storey building and reaches up 131m.

As is our wont, we took the rest of the day at ease, venturing only as far as a convenience store and eating in the cafe next door to it. I ate something a lot like boeuf bourguignon with rice, very tasty and unctuous but I'm not sure how local. Clare stuck with noodles and veg.

Saturday the 28th started with me having a bit of a bluey. Kyoto only has two subway lines (N-S & E-W), and the guidebooks made it clear that these wouldn't get us near to many of the places we'd want to see.

That means we'd have to use buses, and in my experience they are an awful lot more work and how would I know where to get off if all the signs were only in Japanese characters?

We went to the Tourist Information Centre in Kyoto Station and asked for the maps, etc. recommended in our guide book.

The station is a sight in itself, rising from ground level in the centre to tenth floor or higher at each end up a single tall hill of escalators - quite a sight from bottom or top, all mirrored walls, and the subject of many photos that morning.

We went up to the very top, to a poorly-named Sky Garden (sky yes, garden no) to read our bumph. First we looked at the organised coach tours of the main sites, but worked out they were £88 per head so ditched those pronto.

Then I looked at a leaflet called "Bus Navi". That changed everything. The city is laid out in a grid, and this leaflet shows in a very clear and simple way which buses go along every major street, where each route goes, the name of every stop (in English/Latin letters) and hence where to change. I don't know if it's won any awards for information design, but it certainly deserves to.

I could immediately see how to get everywhere we needed to go and my mood soared.

We took the subway to the Kitaoji bus terminal in the north of the city and bought 500Y day tickets. The stops for major sights are well signed here, and we caught the bus to the Daitokuji Temple. Bus stops are mainly foot-square brown columns with their name printed in Japanese and "English". I followed the stops on the map to tell where to get off, but there are recorded announcements in English for the big tourist stops too.

Daitokuji Temple turned out to be a complex of sub-temples, only a few of which are open to visitors and charge an entrance fee. We went in one (no shoes, bags or photographs) and enjoyed the simplicity of the rooms and raked-gravel zen gardens (as did a swarm of bees).

No so impressed, we caught another bus to the Kinkakuji Temple, best known for its Golden Pavillion (covered in real gold leaf), beautifully reflected in the lake on which it stands. There was quite a scrum of people with cameras, all heading for the most photogenic vantage point, but a little patience paid off.

Next we went to the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park. My friend Harpreet had told us not to bother and he was right. It was all quite plain. We used the hole-in-the-floor public toilets and were amused to see a lighthearted instructional diagram taped to the wall near floor level (fortunately laminated).

Eventually we found a small patch with some cherry trees still in blossom and a little stream. The few weeks of blossom are a huge thing here in Kyoto, and we were very fortunate to catch the tail-end of this, here and other places (even if I did get a bit sick of Clare's mantra "they're past their best").

We headed for Nijo Castle, but Clare spotted it was shutting soon, so we headed back toward the hotel. We spotted a little canal down beside the street and enjoyed a stroll on the footpath before squeezing onto a very busy bus home.

Many or most local restaurants have models of their dishes outside or in their window, apparently extremely well-made in wax. We saw one that would do Clare grilled chicken and a bowl of noodles (which I started eating by mistake) and for me another "lunch box" of even less recognisable things - don't tell me, I can enjoy them as long as I don't know.

We began Sunday the 29th by going up the Kyoto Tower on top of our hotel - pretty good views, even if the centre of the city is a couple of kilometres north. Then we took the subway to Nijo Castle, home to the first shogun. This has two compounds, each surrounded by a moat, one inside the other. The banks inside the moats are stone-faced and steeply sloping. We were amazed by the buildings, with so many walls (both internal and external) simply paper-covered lattice screen panels.

I'd booked by email for a Twilight Walking Tour, and we left even earlier than planned to catch the bus to the start point. Unfortunately, the traffic was appalling and we got later and later, finally speed-walking up a fairly steep hill to arrive at the last possible moment. Guide Cookie said she'd expected we might be late as today was a public holiday and very busy.

Cookie taught us many interesting things over the next couple of hours, as we wandered through picturesque old streets, including answering questions we'd built up:
- What are the food models made of? Wax.
- Are they for tourists? No, they're traditional.
- Can Japanese people tell Japanese and Chinese apart by sight? No, Japan is quite a polyglot nation.
- What are the thatched-looking temple roofs made of? Maple bark, which is harvested without killing the trees and reserved for this purpose.
- Isn't it cold with paper walls? They slide solid wooden panels across at night or in case of rain, but it can still get pretty cold.
- These buildings don't look very old? Most are 100-150 years old, but have to be kept in good repair because they're made from fragile materials (one exception being the silvery glazed roof tiles, which always seem to look new).

She also explained the world of Geikos (not Geishas, which now has unfortunate connotations) and Maikos, who are apprentice Geikos but may be doing it for interest over a few late-teenage years (a bit like au pairs) rather than as a career.

At the end of the tour, we went to catch a bus home but the queue was huge, so we travelled on two separately-owned subway systems instead.

We got back to the hotel for our planned Skype session with Clare's son Robert and girlfriend Louise. The video was excellent, over our tiny wi-fi router plugged into the hotel room's Ethernet point.

For dinner we treated ourselves to delicious McDonalds meals (one of the nicest McD's I remember). Unfortunately, this set off Clare's recurring tummy problem quite badly.

On Monday 30th I went just across from our hotel to join a few-hour walking tour. Clare stayed in the hotel room for a rest. Five of us were waiting, but eventually we worked out it was a public holiday so the tour wasn't running.

Later on, Clare and I set off to do the "Philosopher's Walk". Again by subway to Kitaoji bus terminal, then a bus to Ginkakuji Temple. This had a nice enough garden but we couldn't see anything silvery about the Silver Pavillion - definitely a poor relation to the Gold one that impressed us the other day.

The Philosopher's Walk (as helpfully tipped by Harpreet, or "Path of Philosophy" on maps) is a trail by an old canal, which runs at the edge of the built-up area and below steeply wooded hills. We wandered along, very much enjoying our own pace and the few trees retaining their blossom.

Between the south end of the Path of Philosophy and the subway station we found the Nanzenji Temple. This had two features that interested us. The first was a huge gateway-cum-elevated-temple, a substantial building raised up on huge pillars and with a balcony all around.
The second was an aqueduct, brick-built in a European style and over a hundred years old. First we couldn't work out why someone had gone to so much trouble, and then why so much water was flowing toward the hills, rather than away. Out of curiosity we followed the water, only for it to disappear into a tunnel. Subsequent googling indicates that, despite the vintage, it's part of a hydro-electric scheme!

Kyoto was the capital of Japan for a thousand years, so it has quite a few things to see. Many of them are temples, and after a while they do get "samey". Anyway, I think we've given Kyoto a fair look round and can move on with a clear conscience.

Tokyo

We left Shanghai at 6am on the morning of the 23 April, for a 9am flight to Tokyo, being taken to the airport by On the Go.

The flight time was just over 2.5 hours and once we landed it was relatively easy to buy rail tickets and we were pleasantly surprised that we could get a direct train to Tokyo's Ikebukuro station, where our hotel was. This journey was just over 1.5 hours and the hotel was situated within walking distance of the station. Our room was small, but suitable for our needs.

We went to the local 7-Eleven supermarket to stock up on 'provisions' and as we were getting into the lift back at the hotel, we heard a querying voice say 'Dave?', and much to Dave's surprise the voice belonged to Harpreet, a chap he worked with in Reading a few years ago. There was then spent a few minutes of them catching up and also arrangements made to meet Harpreet for dinner the next evening. Amazing to meet someone you know halfway round the world!

After the surprise of this meeting and settling in to our room, we went to one of the restaurants, where Dave went for the buffet option and I had a pizza.

On our first day we went to Sunshine City (a large shopping centre), and we went up the Sunshine 60 Tower to the 60th floor observatory. This gave us a magnificent view of Tokyo, which again is a very large city, and with very few green spaces to be seen.

One of the problems we have, surprisingly, encountered in Japan is the total lack of free wi-fi in hotel rooms or lobbies. This has proved frustrating, particularly for Dave, so while out in Tokyo we decided to find an electrical shop to see if we could find a wireless router for access to the Internet and Skype wherever we stay in Japan. The first place we went to did not have what was needed, but walking further down the street we came to a shop called Lab1, a very large electrical store, so in we went.

Dave spent a lot of time looking in the relevant section (to be honest I did not have a clue what to look for!) but what was there was either too expensive or too large. However, when it seemed that we would not be able to get anything, I suggested to Dave that we look in the next aisle just in case they were any routers there and luckily there were and for the relatively small sum of £20. Dave was very pleased.

Back to hotel to set up our new gizmo and it has been working a treat; I have to say I am very pleased to have internet access too. We rang my Mum on Skype and the connection was brilliant, the same when we rang Dave's parents. We also rang Robert and Louise from Kyoto and did the video link, which was also great, so all in all £20 well spent.

In the evening, as arranged, we met up with Harpreet and went to the restaurant on the 25th floor of hotel, which offered stunning views of the city at night. Both Harpreet and myself had pasta and Dave had steak. Dave and Harpreet reminisced about their time working together and Harpreet also gave us his views and experiences on what to see and where to visit in Japan; he was travelling back to the UK the following morning after having been in Japan for 17 days. A very pleasant evening.

On our second day we set out for the Imperial Palace gardens, a short metro ride away. The Imperial Palace is only open twice a year, one of which is the Emperor's birthday. However, it was a warm sunny day and the East Gardens turned out to be a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. After this we went back to the metro and as Dave was hungry, we went into a food hall and he brought some sushi.

We went back to the hotel and in the evening found an Italian restaurant next to the hotel, which was a bit expensive for basically two bowls of pasta and a couple glasses of wine, but enjoyable nevertheless.

The next day dawned overcast and damp, but we decided to go to the Meiji-Jingu shrine, a short metro journey away. This shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken and after their deaths in 1912 and 1914, the people wanted to commemorate their memories, so 100,000 trees were donated from Japan and overseas to create the forest where the shrine sits.

The shrine itself was large and very tranquil, as have most of the shrines we have visited, a pity the weather was not nicer, but it was a nice place to spend a couple of hours.

We went to the restaurant in the park where Dave had a sushi lunchbox - I just watched! Then we made our way back to the hotel.

In evening we found an 'Italian Cafe' where we both had pasta dishes which were lovely and a lot cheaper than the previous Italian meal.

My overall impression of Tokyo is of a too big a city, lacking in green open spaces and too many people. However, saying that, it has been been an amazing experience that I would not have missed for the world.