Roskilde Festival

My camp was young this year (well, younger than me) so they were mainly there for the socializing and the music just happend to be handy for those dead spots brought on by too much alcohol and not enough sleeping. So I was free to go to as many concerts as I wanted to - arrive when I wanted, leave when I wanted - I'm good on my own. With a few exceptions I managed to get to most of the stuff that seemed cool. There were no real big surprises this year, but lots of great music, a few good movies and people watching too.

The Motörhead concert made me smile a couple of times. Before the concert even started fans where lining up outside the pit hoping to get a spot up front. But another concert had to be taken care of first - a nice surfer dude called Jack Johnson. So two long rows of people waiting for very different kinds of music were peacefully roasting side by side under the summer sun - there was something strangely poetic about it.
When Motörhead finally did go on I had a flashback to last year when Judas Priest was playing: They are all around retirement age and were getting increasing more red and sweaty in the face as the concert went on. Those guys had so much leather and metal on that all of us were worried sick about them because it was boiling hot that day. The Motörhead guys are even older, but they look more sturdy and didn't have nearly as much metal on but they still had way too much clothes on considering the weather. Vanity comes before fall, heh.
There was a dancing guy in the audience who had taken the road in the opposite direction and stripped everything off. That in itself isn't an unusual sight at Roskilde, you see enough naked people there to last you a year or two, but what he was doing with said naked body was swinging it around and around and around and around and then a bit of headbanging and then swing around and around ... this dude was fairly tall and whenever he would swing, he would jump, and that jump put his crotch at most women's eye level. I kept staring at him for 15 min, just waiting to see if he was going to hit someone in the face! It came pretty damn close a few times, but apparently women are pretty good at dodging penile attacks.

During the week I realized one thing that made me a bit sad. You get dirty on a festival and I don't want to go through a whole week without taking a shower if I can avoid it (it's just so damn nice to feel clean). But on a big festival like Roskilde you have to slack on normal routines. There's no way I'm going all the way back to Copenhagen to take a shower and it seems silly to spend money on a hot shower that you could spend on food, so if it isn't too cold I jump in the cold showers. The cold ones are free, open to everyone and since it was hot it was a nice cool down too. But it dawned on me how much has changed since the 90's: I was the only one who got completely naked! When I started going to Roskilde over a decade ago jumping into the cold showers wasn't a big thing; everyone ended up doing it when it was really hot anyway and if you had a pair of undies on people thought you were a bit silly. If you were that worried about others seeing you naked then you probably should pay for privacy in the hot showers. I had noticed that it was getting more and more common to wear bikinis and shorts, but this was the first year that I was the only naked one. You can't get clean if you cover up, if you can't get clean then it isn't really a shower anymore and you are just showing off. It can't be that people have started lusting after each other more because we looked at each other back then too so what the hell went wrong?

After I got home I looked at pictures from the first festivals and compared them to what I saw this year: Roskilde has turned into another place where you have to be "pretty". Diversity in people is becoming extinct there. Well ... I'm sad that part is going, but it's still the best place for getting a wide range of music. So! I guess one thing hasn't changed: This was another year where I promised myself it would be the last time - and I'm already gearing up for next year ^^

Behind on updates O_O

A festival and a Scandinavian road trip to be precise. I've written posts for both of them and I promise I'll publish them one by one.

First of I can tell why I didn't write an ending for the Egypt trip: A sandstorm ... seriously.
Nothing worked with the sand flying around. It was interesting to experience first hand though. I was amazed at how the sand got in absolutely everywhere.


At least I finished the books I brought with me.
Just for your information: I had expected Soulless to be too easy a read but it actually made me laugh out loud several times; I enjoyed the humour.
The Golden City however wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. Hrmpf! The first book in the series was okay so I got the two others ... and I really shouldn't have bothered. Oh well ...

Uh look! Pictures! :D

Flying over Sinai

The cleaning dude has artistic flair and a sense of humour

Drinking gin and tonic to keep away the mosquitos :D

We're where the desert meets the sea

A desert walk into the ocean

My family and I are waterrats; serious aquaphiles. It's really hard to keep any of us out of the sea when snorkling or diving is ready available. The last time I was in Egypt I got very burnt because I completely forgot about getting out of the sun - I was snorkling along the reef for two hours in prime cancer hours! Autsch! >_< I'm more cautious now and try to refrain from jumping in between 12 and 15. It's so easy for me to lose track of time.

The Red Sea is still as great as I remember it. It makes me sad though to see all the damage to the corals, and I haven't found a single clownfish yet. I've stalked a few rays and said hello to a turtle so I'm fairly happy , but my sister hasn't come across a shark yet so her trip isn't made yet; I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her (and the red sea too).

Sis and dad are on a dive today. I don't have the certificate to go with them and I'm a teeny tiny bit jealous ... teehy tiny being the understatement of the year. I really should get my arse in gear and earn the certificate so I can go - since I say it every summer -_-

I had an allergic reaction to ... erh ... something, and turned fire engine red and well as woozy so I had a bit of a lie-in where I watched bad tv (highlights being Dr. House in arabic and Spongebob in italian; as well as watching the danish football team give the dutch team a goal (see, I'm watching sport, it's bad)). I missed out on a trip to Petra in Israel. Oh well ...

As far as going to the pyramids: My mom talked me into skipping Cairo and the pyramids because she wants us to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday on a trip down the Nile next year. So she really had to twist my arm on that one, hehe.

This desert dweller is gonna go back to the sea and next time throw up a few pictures ^^

Ma`as-salāma

Hello mother land, here I come.

Check list:

1. Books -The Golden City, Soulless and a book on animal and plant life in the red sea.
2. Respectable clothes - Just being polite.
3. Medical aid for the weak stomach - I usually do okay no matter where I am, but never say never.
4. Sunscreen - It's Africa!
5. Sunglasses - See previous point.
6. Money - Makes things a little easier.
   
7. Diving gear - Got to say hello to the Nemos of the Red Sea.
8. Passports - Well, I want to get both in and out.
   
9. Tickets - It's a long walk otherwise.
10. .... there's a ten!? Erm ... toothbrush? Anyhoo ..

My sister and I were a little disappointed the last time we were around Egypt that we didn't manage to see the pyramids, so we're going to try harder this time ^^

Later
مع السلامة

This is a TRAVEL blog

Hence there is no activity on here when I'm not travelling. And at present I'm stuck in one place (very much against my own wishes).

Anyhoo, the activity will begin again in june. First stop is Egypt!

All's well that ends well?

I've tried to write a finishing post for this trip but it's a lot harder than I thought it would be - mainly because the end seems wrong.

I've been on danish soil for a few weeks now. And until now I've been surfing friends' couches; just hanging out with people I like, and I've been drunk as many times here as I've been for the 2½ months I've been travelling.

My base of operations is now my parents place and it will be until the middle of december. My birthtown is pretty, historical, peaceful ... and if it wasn't for my parents there would be nothing for me here. Don't get me wrong, my childhood was great and the town does bring back those memories but there is also a reason why I moved to another country at 17 - this place drives me nuts. I love it here but I can't stay for too long at a time. Also, today none of my friends live here anymore so they can't help with the nuttyness O_O I'm self-medicating myself with books, movies, series and painting.

I also have time to revisit memories of my trip to two very different countries.

When thinking of the states I can think back to my inspired "length of Manhattan" walk (man, did I hurt >_<) that got started by me seeing that there was a comics and cartoon museum in the south end, and how when I finally got there just stood and looked at the building for 5 minuttes saying: "Typical" because they had closed the museum the previous month. Typical for my luck.

I can think of the dissapointing day in Washington that ended with me draging my butt back on a bus to go to Nashville, and how that bus ride was the best that I had because of Dennis the driver that told jokes and said that all you needed to make a day perfect was a smile; also because of the sweetest pixie woman at McDonalds in the Viginia mountains who made me a vegetarian burger despite it not being on the menu. I love the accent too :)

And I can think back on how disturbing the poverty in the states where; and how weird it was to have someone come up to me and ask for money when they had nicer clothes on than me and only picked me to ask because I was the only white person present.

I can think of the very nice indian woman at a hotel in Memphis who gave me a room with a kingsize bed for a dormroom prize because she didn't want me to walk through a bad area to get to a hostel.

I can think of how typical it is that Texas has one of the driest, hottest summers and when I got there it started raining.

And I can laugh to myself for noticing that fire hydrants are different colours in different states and sometimes in different cities: In Asheville they are clown coloured fx ^^

When thinking back on Japan my internal movie shows me the most beautiful pictures of mountains, castles, woods, sea, temples, wildlife and traditional arts and crafts *sigh*, as well as very kitshy things in an overkill way that only the Japanese can get away with.

I can remember sitting under one of the bridges in Kyoto talking to a couple of the homeless people living there after I had offered them some food; they only accepted the food on the condition that they could be hospitable to me and offered me a seat in their home.

Also, I can think back on how much it amused me that a school on Okinawa had their very orderly morning gymnastics to the beat of the Imperial March from Star Wars; cute little stormtroopers they were ^^

I can remember the panic I felt after a big 5cm bug bounced of my sunglasses because I was afraid my allergy wouldn't be able to take it if it was one of those huge hornets I've seen on tv.

And I can remember how funny it was that none of the Japanese women could walk properly in high heels (probably has something to do with the lack of hips and junk in the trunk); and that even though a lot of people rode bikes it looked like they all learned it the previous day (I have no theory as to the reason for that! I got nothin')

I am grateful for every encounter and experience that I had.

... travelling is probably the only thing I am really good at that I also really enjoy. I miss it.

Tokyo madness

It is amazing how many clubs Tokyo have (and you can get into a lot of them for free if you're female). A goth club can be right next to a disco and nobody finds it strange. I was out with a french girl saturday and we were following a bunch lolita girls around for a bit and they went from one extreme to the other - it was very interesting. We toasted in sake everytime we came to a new place.

Be careful with Sake. It's a killer. It goes straight to your brain and boils your brain ... especially if it's hot >_<

Maybe it was the sake that made a guy offer me money if I would step on him wearing a pair of heals. I wasn't drunk enough to accept and felt that it would be too much like standing next to someone as they jerked off to you. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a boyfriend or someone I find attractive doing it, but this dude was not my cup of tea. I might be dirt poor but walking around on someone until he jizzes in his pants just doesn't seem like the right way for me to make money o_O

The sake almost ruined my Sunday, at the very least it made it harder. I went to Harajuku to goggle the cos play zoku (costume play gang). The visual onslaught to my eyes was almost as bad as standing in front of an arcade in Akihabara (my poor brain).

There were a bunch of really pretty costumes on a gang of teeny tiny girls and I asked in my very bad Japanese if I could take a picture. After a lot of giggles - I got out my camera, they posed, I said cheese ... and the fucking camera died. I might have been a little overly dramatic with my: NOOOOOOOOO! But the girls all took pity on me and chatted with me for about an hour after that.

I can't remember exactly how we came on to the subject, but the girls agreed that I could make a lot of money in Japan. As one girl so nicely put it: "There are two types of men in Japan: Type 1: the ones who wants to step; and Type 2: the ones who wants to be stepped on" and I had already had a run in with the second type the night before. The girls felt that most Japanese women can only fill the needs of type 1 so Japan needed women that could take care of type 2.
-Then a discussion about my weight started (the only part of this scenario that wasn't amusing to me) and then an argument about whether or not my boobs were real which ended after one girls grabbed them and went: "Hai! Real!" ... and here I thought that the Japanese were suppose to be a polite people, oh dear oh dear.

Today I went around Shinjuku and Shibuya with Julie, the french girl, and we could tell that I do not exist according to the shops there. Julie picked up a shirt that said XL and I swear it was a XS. We got so depressed that we ate a box of cookies. Pretty good monday really :)

I'm going to take a walk around central Tokyo tomorrow and see a Kabuki show at Kabuki-za. I'll probably love it; vibrant colours, dance, drama and men in drag - I mean, you can't go wrong there ^^
I've already seen some puppet theatre and Noh theatre so it's the next step.

I think I'll just relax after that. Read and gear up to the plane trip home.

Sooooo tired ...

Sayonara. さようなら

A little extra somethin' somethin'

The "Culture Day" Tuesday did turn out a bit of culture ^^

On a hunch (which is just another word for subtle pattern recognition) I made my way to Senjo ji temple and ran into a parade. It was basically a run-through of Japanese history and culture, and I ended up with 50+ pictures on my camera O_O Some very pretty things there. I also ran into an Aussie that I had couch surfed with at Mochan's place and had a little chat.

After the parade was over I went up Nakamise dori, a shopping street leading up to the temple, to get a few souvenirs for the people at home. The good thing about Nakamise is that most of the stuff in the stalls are made in Japan; of course you get the "made in china" stuff in between but I stay away from it. I mean, seriously - I'm in Japan so I should get things that are made here and not in the neighbouring country.

I asked a sales person about some kanji on a small figurine and the outcome was interesting:

Lady: Helt.
Me: Helt? Eh ...
Lady: Helt! Helt!
Me thinking: Oh crap ...
Lady looking very distressed: Helt! Heelt! Hellsss!
Me grapping on to the last attempt the lady did and running with it: ... Hells ... Health?!
Lady lighting up: Haaaaai! Helt!
Me: Riiiiight ... okidoki ^^

Now, we continued to poke a bit of fun at the Th-sound before I showed her how to make it. In short, I got my phonetic ass in gear and visually showed her where the sound was to be found in her mouth - and she was besides herself.

Lady: Health! The theatre! The the the the! Health!
Me: *With a big old smug smile and feeling happy that I helped*

I got a figurine for free for my help ^^
My phonetics training is really useful here; most Japanese have only minor problems reading English but have great difficulty with pronunciation. It feels good to be useful :)

In the evening it was karaoke time (I kicked ass ^^).
And we did it for so long that I didn't have a voice the next day.

Down to earth magic!

"Do everything by hand, even when using the computer."

-Hayao Miyazaki

Went to the Ghibli museum today. Woaw ....
The place has a very organic feel to it; it could be somebody's home (I'd live there for sure!) It's so nice to see that museums can be interesting without being arrogant and stand-offish. It was magical in an approachable, tangible way that made it extremely memorable to me.

The museum made me think of the "caves" I used to make as a kid; the ones where you hide away and fill your little space with treasures. I guess in some way I've never gotten beyond that since I still live in small little spaces surrounded by my cherished things. I am just a big kid. An old soul but a child at heart. I really appreciate Hayao Miyazaki's vision for his museum and I truely think he hit it right. I wish I could crawl into his head, just for a week or two. But since that isn't really possible the museum and the movies will have to do.

Uh! And I got precious booty from the shop there! ^^

It's been a long (yet satisfying) day and I'll write more tomorrow.

Dream big, my pretties.

Another holiday?!

It seems that the Japanese has at least one holiday every month and this tuesday we have now run into Culture Day (I haven't really found out if it means I can get into museums cheaper or something similar ^^) So I'm jumping on my rental bike and taking a look at gardens and parks today.

My trip on the ferry from Okinawa wasn't so bad this time because I had food with me.
There were a couple of re-runs of people:
-The cool biker chick was back and I spent a lot of fun time trying to teach her to play The Good, the Bad and the Munchkin (I actually think the language barrier made it more fun!).
-Also on board was a guy I refer to as "Mr Stare"; an extremely creepy man who kept watching me when I slept. The last time around I kept telling myself that I was imagining things and maybe he just had very bad eye sight so he focused on the darkest spot in the room; but this time I tried to move out of sight and he followed me ... twice o_O
-There was a little girl on board who last time had looked at me a lot too and this time she had worked up enough nerve to approach me. Really cute. She had seen Little My and Snufkin on my jacket and she had decided that the best way to make contact with the big gaijin was to sing the theme from the Moomins cartoon series. Kawaii ^^ It worked. We had our own little singalong and managed to get through a lot of Disney songs and a few Ghibli :)

I looked through my pictures and realized that I hadn't taken that many on Okinawa and none of people! It's too bad because I met some very colourful characters; my hostel was full of hippies, street preformers (among others a firedancer who gave a preformance that kicked ass; he's the best I've ever seen), surfers, soldiers, globetrotters. I liked it ^^

After getting very lost in Osaka (it involved about 10 japanese people who all tried to help me before someone finally found an english teacher from Australia - who ended up offering me a job because "we need brave people" :D) I was late for the Halloween celebration with Mochan's new couchsurfing group. And then I got extremely smashed.

We all went back to Mochan's house in Shizouka and arrived at about five in the morning. I hadn't really slept on the ferry due to a combination of bad weather, snoring/snorting old guy, and Mr Stare, so you would think I would be able to sleep at Mochan's ... but no. The alcohol in my system was making my world sail and I didn't manage to fall asleep before people started getting up again. The house was buzzing (along with my head) all day and we left at midnight to make it to Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo and I didn't get any sleep on the bus either. I finally got a bed at 11 monday morning and had pretty much been awake since thursday. Talk about feeling your age all the sudden. Gah! But I doubt that I have ever been happier to go to sleep in a crisp bed before ^^

The fish market was quite the show by the way. And it cemented my resolve to never touch meat again.

I'm back at Khao San (yes, like the backpacker street in Bangkok) in Tokyo. And here I'm going to enjoy my last days in Japan and pick up a few last souvenirs.

I was thinking ...

I like the fact that people pronounce my name correctly here. Japanese people take one look at my name and say it right on the first take without me saying it out loud first. Aah ... the small joys in life ^^

There are other things I do not like though. The Japanese is a apologize-first people but it doesn't stretch to their manners on the street, they walk into each other and even knock people over and keep going. I've had people turn around and stared at me like I was the scum of the earth after they've hit me with their umbrella. Very odd. Maybe the street is one of those places where they can get a couple of aggressions out that they can't other places, heh.

And I occasionally see people forget something on the train or drop something on the street and, being the gaijin that I am, I of course pick it up and return it to the owner because nobody else does it. I'm big, noisy and do not speak Japanese ... but is luckily forgiven for these traits because I'm not from Japan.

But it is hard to say really bad things about Japan. The attitude towards animal welfare is the biggest in my book but I'm sure others would disagree.

I wish it was easier to be vegan here but I'm getting by. I lived on rice and sugar to begin with but have now gotten good enough at recognising the kanji for meat products and I found out that you can go to a lot of Buddhist temples and get vegan/vegetarian food, WOO!

Would I be able to live in Japan for a year? Hm ... yeah, I think so. It couldn't be in a place like Nagoya or Osaka though: Too soulless, too much concrete, too stiff. Kyoto is a beautiful choice. Tokyo is weird enough. One of the south island is probably a better choice for me though; I could kayak, surf, dive and trek when the culture wasn't enough.

Anyway! I haven't made it to Tokyo yet. I'm at Mochan's place in Shizouka. I got very drunk on Halloween and needed some serious downtime (I'm getting old) so I've been hanging out with Mochan's recent set of couchsurfers today. We're all heading to Tokyo in the morning.

Hope you all had a great Halloween ^^

I believe I can fly!

I as a general rule love animals, but of course there are a few I appreciate more than others. There are a couple of people who know my favourite animal. For the rest who does not: Manta.
Maybe it's a Pisces thing, but I love Manta rays. They fly under water; how cool is that!?! It amazes me that something so big and odd can be so graceful and magical.

And one of them went right past my face today and I swear I stopped breathing for a minute or so. HoooOOOly fuck! They're HUGE! I already knew that they are the largest of the rays, but still ... DAMN! I'm very happy right now; the sun is shining inside my head ^^

I had been in kind of a shitty mood since yesterday when I made a soldier cry. Yup, a grown man broke down on me. I had asked why he drank so much and he had answered that it was because otherwise he couldn't sleep. He's not the first soldier I've met on this journey that didn't sleep without aid. We had a talk about Iraq and how it has messed up a lot of young men and continues to do so. It was only after he said out loud why he couldn't sleep that he broke down and I'm sorry I asked him. It was nice to talk to him though. Speaking English without simplifying was good too.

The night under the stars was spend on the most awful beach. It is the closest to the hostel and there is actually a road going across the water and ruining the view o_O I was a good thing we were all drunk!

I'm going back to the mainland tomorrow and will land in Osaka in time for Halloween.
Happy sailing to me.

Just another day in paradise.

Well, I haven't really been doing much to tell you the truth.
I arrived early Thursday and spent most of the day at the beach in a hammock with a beer ^^

Friday I biked around south Okinawa looking at peace memorials and reconstructed historical sites (no historical site survived the battle of Okinawa in 1945 unfortunately) which of course was an active thing to do. And today I walked to the Shuri area which used to be the capital of Okinawa - but in between Friday and today Monday I only read, drank and played cards because of a typhoon (an extremely wet experience)

I was suppose to go couch surfing with an American couple for a few days near Kadena Air Base but they haven't been online to give me the address so I'm not entirely sure what I'll do tomorrow. If they do not get in contact I think I'll head out to a nearby island to snorkel with mantas.

Maybe I'll bike the 20km up to Okinawa city and snicker at the spectacle that is the Americana japan. Central Okinawa is were most of the bases are and despite some guide books' insistence that it has an international feel every traveller and Japanese person I've meet says that it's a kinda freaky experience, heh.

We're a few people who are going to camp out on the beach under the stars tonight; mainly because we've all been cooped up inside the whole weekend and just need air! Now!

*Flies out the door with a bag full of beer*

Domo!

Osaka turned out to be boring. It's alright for nightlife but it is a butt ugly city. It got leveled in WWII and is one of the cities that just never got over it. It is industrial in the uninteresting way. But I guess it's a good base for exploring other places in the region; I went to Nara on a day trip.

Nara looks very small when you step off the train but it holds 8 temples, shrines and ruins that are on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites; quite impressive really. Everyone talks about Todai-ji as the place to see so I went there first expecting big things ... and I guess that's what I got. Todai-ji is a monster. It's the largest wooden building in the world. When you first enter the gate it looks nice but not too impressive (I've been in Japan for a few weeks now so I've seen my fair share of impressive buildings) But like with Niagara Falls the closer you get the greater the impact. When I left again my neck hurt from all the looking up and going "Holy dung beetle".

Nara had just had the weirdest festival: Deer antler cutting festival o_O
So all the Sika deer that roam the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara" site were without antlers, heh. A bit odd but it apparently has something to do with protection of locals and tourists. My guess is that some of the males there are very horny (pardon the pun) buggers who are very protective of their harem and in order to give stupid people a fighting chance when they do what comes naturally to them: Not think when faced with a territorial deer; antler cutting became mandatory for all deer on the site. There were a hell of a lot of school kids there that got their first visual biology lesson on reproduction; like I said: horny buggers.
All I got was a couple of shoes full of poo >_<

There were a few school classes that were there to interact with tourists to practice their English. So I managed to say "Good. And how are you?"- "My name is Ane. I'm from Denmark"-"Thank you (for a piece of origami)"- "Bye bye" 10 times ... and I know this because I had 10 pieces of origami in my bag when I came back to Osaka. Kids are cute sometimes ^^

Well, I decided against going to China (too much paperwork involved) so after spending 40 hours on a ferry I'm now in Okinawa. It's a good thing I like the water and sailing otherwise a person might go mad on that ferry trip. There is nothing but vending machines on board and I didn't know that so I hadn't brought any food with me and I only had 200 yen in coins in my pocket. It was a loooong trip from my stomach's point of view. You are put in a room with 40 futons and you can choose to lie there or go out on a small section of deck; I spent a great amount of time reading on deck and watching the waves and occasional flying fish. On the upside I got to practice my Japanese because I met the coolest biker chick (who owns a fish pet shop) who spoke a minimum of English so we had to make do with numbers, my "point and speak" book and impro sounds ^^

Anyway ... I am back in tropical weather and I don't mind that one bit. It suits me ^^
Okinawa is reference heaven for me but probably lost on most of you so I'll just keep it to myself :) And I'll write about paradise later.

See ya'

Utsukushii!

Oh yes, Kyoto is beautiful ... when you are willing to look for the good stuff. And I don't mind walking for a far bit so I'm okay ^^

When I first got of the train and looked out from the station my heart sank: Concrete *sigh*
It's the most uninspiring material, concrete, and you see a lot of it in Japan >_<

But luckily on my quest to find a place to sleep I found Gion, where the Geisha live :D I quite literally stumbled upon it and a couple of Maikos thought I was cute. I'm getting better at Japanese and I must have blushed because they giggled, heh.

I dropped my bag at a Ryokan and proceeded to get hopelessly lost; I'm good at that. Saw a lot of cool and beautiful streets though (pictures will come later). The Imperial Palace found me not the other way around, and from there I managed to find the Manga Museum. Oh yeah!

It's kind of too bad I won't get to see the philosopher's walk in full bloom, but I did get a beautiful autumn walk in Fushimi inari taisha (I have a little pictures diary of that, hehe) And on my way back I walked past the Nintendo building. Woo!

The least touristy thing was Shimabara, the old "entertainment" district. I went to the old gate and to Sumiya without meeting a single westerner :O

I've overdosed on temples. There are sooo many here! Nishi Hongan-ji was my favourite.
And I've been fairly antisocial here. No hanging out with people really. There was an american that seemed very eager buuuut no.

Anyway, I was suppose to go to Okinawa today but the ferry has been cancelled (which I am told happens quite often) so I'm in Osaka trying to decide if I want to wait for tomorrow's ferry for Okinawa or if I want to wrestle with Chinese immigration and take the ferry to Shanghai. Hm ...

Nice to see a friend.

It is really nice to experience new things and meet new people but I have to admit that it was great to see a familiar face of a friend. A big hug and a smile after getting of a train made my day ^^

I watched a play in Nagoya by the way ... in Japanese ... it was Phantom of the Opera ... and it was the most surreal experience I have ever had in the theatre ... no shit.

Anyway, I went to Gifu to meet Makoto, but I didn't have to since we ended up in Nagoya anyway. Makoto had the great idea of going to Nagoya Port Aquarium and I didn't complain. I've never seen him as serene as when he was looking at the dolphins; we all have our safe places.

Before we went to the aquarium we stopped between Gifu and Nagoya to check out a replica of Satsuki and Mei's house ... yes, the girls from My Neighbour Totoro ^^ I now have a picture of myself next to the house and next to the bus stop (with an umbrella). It was amazing! They had all the details right: The imperfections on the house, Mei's boots and bag, The dad's bike. The thing that was missing though was a big one: Totoro's tree behind the house. But it was awesome anyway. Woo! I can't wait for the museum!

Makoto took me to his favourite cafe to eat and gave me a Japanese "point and phrase" book (and it's damn useful) so I was really happy until we got to his house in Gifu. Getting introduced to Makoto's family really had my nerves on end; I didn't want to embarrass him by doing something stupid and breaking some formal rule. Well, if I did commit some taboo I wasn't told, hehe. The area and the house is very traditional Japanese in a beautiful way and I only had the best impression of his family.

Speaking of beautiful: I'm in Kyoto. But I'll write about that later :)

Whoops ..

Well, slight change of plans. I'm in Nagoya. I had misunderstood Makoto; he said thursday, I heard tuesday. So I made a little detour to Nagoya before going to Gifu.

The best thing about Nagoya is a castle and a Noh theatre. Boston museum of fine arts also have a place here but it's so damn far away from the town that I'm skipping it.

I'm staying at a ryokan here (japanese inn). I'm getting used to tatami mats on the floor, sleeping on futons, deep bathtubs, little elves that serves me tea undetected, and of course a nice crisp yukata robe after a bath. Hotels will seem like such a letdown after this. It does however strike me as a bit weird that I have to share the roomkey o_O

It bugs me that postcards and postoffices are really hard to find here. Postcards is a small thing to do but it means a lot to my grandmother that I write her nice cards. Damn it.

I am building up a small collection of photos of Stitch. He is everywhere! Every little tourist attaction has their version of Stitch souvenirs. Apparently there is an anime running here based around Stitch and it's insanely popular. Very kawaii ^^

Just one question before I go: Is it wrong to eat sushi every day?
The answer is "no", right? ;P

Moving on.

I haven't had any time to myself the last four days so no update has been possible.

It has been a very compact few days. We were lucky to have a perfect view of mt. Fuji so it appears in a lot of my photos, hehe. Shizouka and close by towns are very traditional Japanese so I've definitely got my share of under the skin experiences with Japan ^^

Anyone who has seen Lost in Translation would have been able to snicker along with us when we went to Suntory winery; there where a lot of: "For relaxing times, make it Suntory time." being thrown around.

I only recognise a few Japanese characters so I'm blissfully unaware of what is being thrown at me from ads and billboards. The joy of not being sold anything; aaaaaaaaah ... ^^

I've decided to skip Hiroshima and go directly from Osaka to Okinawa (heat, wildlife and diving). First I'm going to Gifu, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka though.

Slowly getting ready to move along from Shizouka and all the people I've been hanging out with the time I've been here. Going to Gifu to hang out with my friend, Makoto, for a few days.

Big in Japan.

It's quiet here ... really.

When I arrived at Narita airport and left the plane the sound disappeared. There is the occasional "bling pling" of their version of elevator music but that's it. It might be because I've spent the last month in a loud country but day time Tokyo is very quite for a big city and sometimes void of sound altogether if you are nowhere near traffic.

At the moment nature is making up for the lack of sound though as there is a typhoon on. Woo!

I'm staying at a very homey little hostel where I keep adding new bumps to my head because of the low entry ways. It's really cheap and they are so nice; they had a girl switch bed with me because hers was the only one that was long enough for me in the girl's dorm (all the 2 meter ones are in the men's dorm heh)

The japanese have a real thing about harmony and positive things so a lot of things are "Happy": "Happy Shoes", "Happy Net", "Happy Food", "Happy Sick" (no shit, I saw that lasts one).

Their love of vending maschines is awesome. My inner clock is still a little messed up and I was really hungry in the middle of the night, and normally you have to settle for junk at that time of the day; but not in Tokyo! I got a meal, a real meal, from a vending maschine down the road! Yeah baby!

I got freaked out when a toilet spoke to me though o_O That I could do without.

I'm going down the coast on friday and saving my Tokyo experience for last. I'm trying to couchsurf my way through 50% of my time here starting out with a guy in Shizouka who is a hardcore couchsurfer and host. I'll have 4 days at his house along with 3 others and we're going to a tea ceremony and an onsen, to Mt. Fuji and wine tasting which is close to his home. Later in the month I'll go along with a larger arrangement he has set up for travellers that involves Halloween in Osaka ^^

Anyway, I'm going to pick up my ticket for the Ghibli museum now. See ya later!