So last night ventured into Roppongi (kind of a mad bar / club area - a bit like the bigg market but without the fighting!!!) with a guy from Belgium i`d met earlier in the day... It was quite a good crack, although possibly not traditional Japanese fare - Belgian beer and mussels - though in my defence I did eat the mussels with chop sticks!!! No mean feat!!!
Anyway, saw the sights (and a few bars) but decided to venture home on the last subway (i`d been warned by a few of the people from the hostel that unless you shed out a WHOLE LOT for a taxi, you either had to leave at midnight - or stay out til 5AM when the subway restarts!!! As I had a busy day planned today - I thought i`d better play it safe!!!
So, this morning was pretty early to rise - mainly due to residual jet lag and a very loud snorer in my dorm... Unfortunately with my bag packed, ready to store at Tokyo station, I hit rush hour (AGAIN!!) - and had to just watch train after train pass with no chance in hell of me or my bag getting on!!! The locals are more daring - they just pile in, noses squashed up against the glass, sweat dripping from the ceiling...!!! I actually saw 5 guards pushing 2 girls who were intent on getting on a full train (despite the next one only being 30 seconds behind!!) into the train - as in physically shoving them in, inch by inch!!! They`re all mad!!!
Eventually arrived at my bag drop - found a locker - and yea - freedom!!! (Unfortunately later wished i`d concentrated harder on exactly where the locker was - when I discovered there were lots of locker areas - all pretty similar in appearance - and all in far flung areas dotted around this ABSOLUTELY HUGE station... needless to say it took a good 30 min to find my bag at the end of the day!!! DUH!!!)
And thus, empty handed I embarked on an adventure to Kamakura!!! About and hour out of the city, and thanks to Sarah-Jane`s husbands hand-drawn map and recommendation - I finally found some decent temples, shrines and gardens!!! It was great, well worth the journey!!! Kamakura escaped quite well during the war, so although alot of the old buildings had required structural work after the 1923 earthquake, they were all pretty untouched since. The gardens were unreal - not bad for the middle of winter!!! One of the temples required you to pass through a cave to access it - completely different to the modern ones in Tokyo.
And then to the hiking... as opposed to getting the train a few stops - I decided to take a short-cut across some hiking trail I saw marked on the map! (I should have thought twice based purely on Cath`s `introduction to hiking` weekend in the lakes, but, I honestly thought it`d be a pretty easy stroll!!!) But no, like Conniston, it wasn`t suitable for Grannies with pushchairs or 3-legged dogs (although in fairness I did see a few Grannies - without pushchairs - attempting not to fall down steep tree-root `steps`!!!) In fairness, I`m probably exagerating a little, but dressed (at least with appropriate footwear) in jeans, a jumper, pashmina and ski jacket, with no water, not to mention alone and at times not seeing anyone for a good 15minutes - I did begin to wonder if it was the most sensible idea i`d ever had!!! Ah well, at least i`m starting the preparation for all my South American trekking!!!
Anyway, it was a pretty good day, and this evening I caught the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto - which I`ll hopefully explore tomorrow. The highlight of Kyoto so far has been the dodgy backstreet restaurant (if you could call it that!) where I had dinner... I was actually really suprised by how good the food was - i`d optted for veggie stuff rather than seafood just to avoid ANY chance of food-poisoning!!! However, after a while, I began to recognise the `slightly odd` taste to my rice - and suspect that what i`d thought were mushrooms - were actually little bits of meat!!! AHHH!!! Somehow, I don`t think its the last time that`ll happen this trip - and I made myself feel better about the whole episode by recovering my tastebuds - with chocolate!!! (I felt I deserved it!!!)
Anyway, it`s getting late and I have a busy day tomorrow - will update soon!!!
