Sebs Journey through Life

Leaving Takayama to stop over in Nagoya again

sebfyffe2886 — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 11:39:00 GMT

So left the hostel behind today and went for my final mooch through the streets of Takayama. My bus didn`t leave til 2 so I had some time to look around. Tried my very first Pork bun. It`s like a soft doughy bun with a filling of pork and onions. Very hot but very tasty! Went through the shops and had a look at all the souveniers that you could buy. There were a lot of things that caught my eye, but just no way of transporting them about in my backpack.

Got my bus at 2 and another uneventful trip to Nagoya. Spent the time looking into Nara, my next stop after Nagoya. Got into Nagoya around 5 and made my way to the youth hostel. Made a right fool of myself when I asked this man for directions to the hostel and he pointed to the building behind him with this large Y.H. sign on it. DOH! Checked in to my Japanese style room who I`m sharing with 3 other Japanese guys. One of them named Taka who is looking for a job hopefully with Toyota.

Still too early so went for a look around the city. Very big and sprawling with lots of lights. If you were a moth you wouldn`t know which ones to follow. Had a very nice dish of Pork Ramen. The food is so tasty here. Then went for a drink in a bar and met some business men who bought me some sake to taste. Very strong stuff. Had a great time with them. Constantly asking questions about England and Manchester United.

Made my way back to the hostel slightly worse for wear and crashed out for the night. Tomorrow, Nara here I come!

Takayama and all it has to offer.

sebfyffe2886 — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:55:00 GMT

Up early today and out, lots of things to see. First off I went to the Festival Float museum. Takayama has a festival twice a year, in many respects its for the same thing as our Harvest festival celebrates. However they do it with a little bit more pomp and flare. They have 11-14, 3 storey high floats that they parade through the streets. They are covered in decorations and gold and lanterns. Plus, 4 of the floats have mechanical puppets on them that through a complicated system of pulleys and levers move and perform for the audience. It takes about 8 guys to move 1 doll. Impressive. So in the museum I saw 4 of them, 1 of which is the main shrine float. But its heavy, about 2 tons in weight. Its made of solid iron and gold. It takes about 40 men to lift and move it.

Also visited a museum dedicated to the puppets that they use on the floats. I was able to see a small demonstration of the puppets as well. Very impressive. They seemed so realistic. From there I went to the Sakurayama Nikkokan museum which is a museum of a miniature set of a Palatial palace and all of its buildings. There must have been around 100 buildings, all reproduced in miniature to the exact detail of the original. It was all done by 1 guy and it took him around 10 years to do. wow!

Afterwards I went for a walk around the village. Did some shopping. enjoyed some yellow snow.......not in that way. One of their favourite treats in Japan is crushed ice with a sauce poured over it. I had lemon, hence yellow snow.

Went out with some french guys I met, Suzanne and Adrien for the night. Had a nice time in a sushi bar. Enjoyed some beer and fish. Takayama was a very enjoyable town.

Sebs arrival in Takayama

sebfyffe2886 — Mon, 9 Aug 2010 18:00:00 GMT

Feeling much better today as I left Nagoya and headed inland for the town of Takayama in the Gifu prefecture. The bus ride was beautiful. The scenery was of lush forested mountains and small villages nestled in valleys with rivers running through them.

Arrived in Takayama. Now it`s not a big town, you can walk across it in about 25 minutes but what it lacks for in quantity, it makes up for it in quality. It has the largest section of Edo period (1600-1868) housing, untouched outside of Kyoto. Where I`m staying as well is picturesque. It`s a converted Temple now Hostel. My first Japanese style hostel as well. It has tatami matted rooms with futons to sleep on and japanese style bathing rooms.

Met a lot of nice people here. 2 brothers especially, Carlos and Pierrot from Italy. Nice guys. Went into town and had a mooch through all the souvenir shops. Walked down the main street of the Edo section of town. The had some dinner. Now the dinner was an experience let me tell you. I had some gyoza to start with and then a ramen dish. However this ramen dish came in a metal pot with the contents still bubbling ( should have been a hint).....What was in the pot was the spiciest, pepperiest dish I have ever tasted, or attempted to eat. I couldn`t finish it. The Japanese have a style of eating noodles where you slurp them to help cool them down. If I did this too hard then I would choke on the sauce.　I drank a lot of water that day.Tomorrow I will visit the sights of Takayama.

Moving on From Fuji to Nagoya

sebfyffe2886 — Sun, 8 Aug 2010 23:34:00 GMT

So today I leave Fuji behind and move on towards Nagoya after having the worst sleep of my night. My dorm was invaded by Japanese teenage boys so it was 7 of them and 1 of me. 1 of the boys was huge, I mean Enormous! He also snored. Now to put it into context how he snored, the best way that I can describe it is if you imagined 2 very old warthogs who hated each other with every fibre of their being trying to mate with each other. You`d get about 10% of what I had. But anyway, got my ticket for Nagoya but the bus doesn`t leave until 5:30 so I wandered around Fuji for a while longer. Nothing too much exciting today. The bus journey was long and delayed so I didn`t get into Nagoya until gone 11pm. Managed to find somewhere to stay after roaming the streets (just kidding mum) and crashed out. An uneventful, waiting for the bus day really.

Sidenote about the blogs

sebfyffe2886 — Sun, 8 Aug 2010 22:40:00 GMT

Just a little headsup about the future of these blogs. I think they are going to be every week as a lot happens in the week to make it hard to find time. So expect updates at the end of every week.

Mt. Fuji BEWARE, SEB IS HERE!!!

sebfyffe2886 — Sat, 7 Aug 2010 16:26:00 GMT

So today was the big climb day. I was pumped, I was excited, I.......had so little stuff compared to everyone else climbing. I got a bus to the 5th station on the mountain. Fuji has 9 stations running up and then the summit. The 5th station puts us in at around 2300 meters. The total is around 3780 ish. I realised my lack of stuff at the 5th station whene everyone had walking poles, backpacks full of rations and extra supplies, gloves, hats. What did I have? My baseball cap, my waterproof jacket, 2 energy gel packs and my camera case.........this was going to be good, I could feel it.

So set off from 5th station at around 8:30. What followed was the longest, hardest climb I have ever experienced. By about the 8th station I was knackered. It was becoming increasingly harder to climb, people were breathing on Oxygen capsules (I didn't give into one of those)like it was free (and at 10 pounds ago it wasn't) However, finally I made it to the summit, and it had only taken me until 1:15 so just under 5 hours. The view though was amazing! You could see to the ends of the earth and beyond. You could see into the crater which still had ice in it. ICE! in August with temperatures of 30 degrees! What was most crazy of all though was the fact that there was a village at the top of the mountain. Selling all sorts of touristy crap, and vending machines! Vending machines at the top of the tallest mountain in Japan! Go figure.

After finally getting my breath back I then did the downhill climb. It took about 2 and a half hours and the whole journey was down a path made of gravel, dust and loose stones so that every step you took might be your last. But i made it in one piece, although I think my legs may need replacing. So I say, "Not bad Mt. Fuji. Thanks for the memories."

Kawaguchiko and Mt. Fuji

sebfyffe2886 — Fri, 6 Aug 2010 16:17:00 GMT

So today left Tokyo behind and boarded a bus that took me to a place called Kawaguchiko. Not really a big place..........except that it's at the foot of Mt. Fuji!!! Awe-inspiring to say the least. Managed to get into a youth hostel and decided to go for a walk to see the area. Surrounding the base of the mountain are 5 lakes so had a very nice tea of Tempura Soba overlooking Lake Kawaguchiko. After that went for a walk around the lake, but may have underestimated the size of the lake as by 7ish I hadn't made it halfway round so beat a hasty route back the way I had come. Got back to the hostel as I was up early for climbing Mt. Fuji and met some of my roomates. Capella from Spain, Kevin from France and Ken from Japan. All had been up the mountain the previous days and said it was worth it but give it the whole day, which I had planned. Talked to Ken for awhile, he is a part-time philosophy teacher who is biking round Japan at the moment (told him about you Struan and your Whistler plan, said it sounded awesome). Nothing left but to hit the hay for the big climb tomorrow.

Final Day of Tokyo

sebfyffe2886 — Thu, 5 Aug 2010 16:05:00 GMT

My last day in Tokyo before I head out. So got up early again (Not that Early!) and headed to Ueno Park, home to the National Museum and Battleground of the Shogi-Tai warriors. These were the guys who fought against the formation of the new government at the end of the Tokugawa shoguns rule. Full of history and culture so spent an agreeable morning there.

Next onto Shinjuku, and as calm and peaceful as Ueno Park was, Shinjuku is definately the opposite. Noisy, busy and full of interesting places to find. Oh, and if Tokyo has a red light district then I found it here. Obviously I didn't go in any of them (Mainly too expensive). From Shinjuku I headed onto Roppongi. Now this is the place with all the clubs and bars to go to in Japan. First though I went into the Mori Arts building and up to their Observation deck. You couls see Tokyo as far as the Horizon as it is that big. On a whim went into the arts exhibition which came with the ticket price and I have to say it was truly amazing, again the pictures I took will do it better justice once I get them up.

Headed back to the hotel to freshen up to go out into Roppongi and stopped at a cafe I had previously been to and met a nice businessman called Shia. He invited me to join his table and we talked for ages on anything and everything. What England was like. (He didn't know about Wales) What he did for a living. So much so that the night slipped away before I knew it and it was gone midnight. Will save Roppongi for when I get back then. Tomorrow a fresh start.

1st real day of Tokyo

sebfyffe2886 — Wed, 4 Aug 2010 15:50:00 GMT

So, because I went to bed so early Japan time, I was up incredibly early, say around 2 am! Yep, so what do you do in Tokyo at 2 in the morning. Well, thats easy, you go to the Tsukiji Fish Market. It may not sound exciting at first but this place is the world's biggest fish market. I have never seen so much fish in one place. How the Oceans aren't devoid of life I'll never know after visiting this place. The market ran on small stalls jam-packed together,with about 10-15 stalls deep and it took about 5 mins of walking to get from one end to the other. They had everything from Octopus and clams to Salmon and Tuna larger than life (I'm working on getting some photos uploaded soon so be patient guys).Had the most freshest sushi breakfast ever considering I had probably seen it alive less than half an hour ago. From there I went to the Hama-Rikyu gardens and had a stroll around in one of the countries most nationally favoured gardens. They used to belong to the Tokugawa Shoguns during the Edo period, so I savoured this with a traditional Green tea overlooking the lake. From their I went for a stroll through the Ginza area, this is every female shoppers dream I found out (Lish you would have loved it). Shop after department store after shop of boutiques, clothes, perfumes etc the list goes on.

After narrowly avoiding my wallet going flat I headed to the Imperial Palace. Now, apparently you aren't allowed to just stroll in which is a real shame because I would have liked a nice chat with the Emperor. So instead I went for a stroll around the Gardens, again very Impressive. To finish off the day I went to a place called Akihabara, which if anyone knows Japan is home to about every Electrical, game, manga and anime shop in Tokyo. Paradise for me...... Quite a full packed day really and this is just the beginning.

Feel of Tokyo and Japan.

sebfyffe2886 — Tue, 3 Aug 2010 02:57:00 GMT

Well, here it is, the beginning of my blog. Will it continue? Who knnows. We can only hope. Lets see, I landed in Tokyo alright after passing through several time zones and landed at Narita airport. Met a nice Italian couple on the plane who are doing a round world trip as. Managed to get on the right train into Tokyo so so far so good. Mum and Dad had put me up in a place for the nights I am in Tokyo for, managed to find the right place after asking a few people (In Japanese no less)Then went for a walk around the local area before crashing out at 5pm. I had been going for about 32 hrs straight so understandable I feel. Not too exciting for a first day, but it will pick-up.

Pre-emptive strike on my journals!

sebfyffe2886 — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:11:00 GMT

Well, its Friday night, 30th July and I'm at home just going through the last of my things to take with me. This is mainly a tester story to see how it goes. Feeling a little nervous but mainly excited about the trip ahead of me. 2 more days to go until i'm in the air, flying my way to Tokyo, capital of Japan!!!!! Can you believe it, because I can't. So farewell until the beginning of my trip.