Erin & Matt's Blog

Sisophon

2010-09-05T15:05:00.000+10:00

Day 291 – Road trip

There was no relaxing on our first day in Phnom Penh and we were up early to get on a minibus out of town. Jane and Michael’s housemates Ash, Morris and Clarissa, along with Ash’s friend Nichole and extras Rob and Matt were all heading to a 30th birthday party in Sisophon and so we tagged along for the road trip. It was at least an 8 hour drive but this flew by reasonably quickly with the amount of banter back and forth and sometimes across the minivan, in dispersed with naps and Sudoku. We also broke up the day with a stop at Gecko, a yummy restaurant in Battambang for some lime mint shakes and Mexican; a blow up pool purchase for the birthday boy Warrick, a fellow NGO employee and of course, to find a slab of beer. The boys managed to find “Australia Beer, brewed under supervision of the Australian Brewing Company” – beer and an organisation the half a dozen Aussies in the car had never heard of!

Lunch at Gecko.

Matt and Michael and the minibus driver with the so called Australia Beer.

By the time we had arrived in Sisophon is was dark and pouring with rain. The guys hadn’t booked accommodation, assuming it would be easy, but being a small town with a fair few expats in town for this party, there wasn’t enough room at the preferred Inn, leaving Jane, Michael and Morris (the Khmer speakers) to go for a drive and find some more options.

It was late by the time bedding was sorted, but that didn’t matter as we headed off to “Warrick’s place” to crash the party. The Australia Beer was pretty awful, so when the collection went around to go out and purchase more beer we were in! It was a short night in the end, on account of a long day and us not knowing anyone at the party!

Ho Chi Minh City

2010-09-04T15:05:00.000+10:00

Day 287 – Vietnam history 101

We touched down at a bout 1am, slightly late but glad that we had actually made it. The pre-authorisations for visas that I had arranged online seemed to work fine and we had our visas and were through immigration pretty quickly. We had expected the ensuing arguments with taxi drivers, keen to bump up the price given the late hour, so after quite a bit of negotiation we made it into town to our hotel. The night manager was asleep on the couch when we got there, but a light tap on the door got his attention and we finally made it to bed.

Our first stop in the morning, after a sleep in of course, was the Fine Arts Museum. The ground floor was supposed to contain contemporary art by Vietnamese artists, but only a couple of the galleries were open. The second floor contained what would better be described as Communist Party memorabilia than art, heroic figures waving red flags, Ho Chi Minh communing with the people, that sort of thing. The third floor was more interesting with older Vietnamese art including carvings, pottery and silverwork.

The art gallery building was quite impressive in itself, it was rather run down however.

After locating its new location we sat down at Quan An Ngon for a bite to eat. This is a huge French era colonial mansion with tables in the huge courtyard and lofty ground floor spaces indoors. The coordinating chef has chosen the best of Ho Chi Minh City’s street vendors, jazzed them up a bit, and given them a spot lining the courtyard. You get a menu listing all the options available, full table service and a beautiful setting, plus a great selection of delicious traditional food. Amongst other things we had banana and snail noodle soup, bamboo noodle soup, prawn cakes and fresh vegetable spring rolls… Yum.

That afternoon we headed for the Reunification Palace. Originally this was the South Vietnamese Presidential Palace, but since North Vietnamese tanks rolled through the front fence and started doing doughnuts on the lawn in April 1975 it has just been a big vacant building. It does however retain much of the original furniture and fittings from its heydays in the 1960s.

On 30 April 1975 a Viet Cong officer ran up several flights of stairs to unfurl a Viet Cong flag from the top balcony, claiming victory.

Meanwhile in a reception room like the above (not sure if it was this one or one of the other two on the same floor) “General Minh, who had become head of the South Vietnamese state only 43 hours before, waited with his improvised cabinet. ‘I have been waiting since early this morning to transfer power to you’, Minh said to the VC officer who entered the room. ‘There is no question of your transferring power’, replied the officer. ‘You cannot give up what you do not have.'” (LP Vietnam).

An empty cabinet?

The president’s desk in the underground complex beneath the palace. Next door was a bedroom for him to sleep in if it wasn’t safe to head back upstairs. There was also a huge array of communications rooms (now very much outdated), battle planning rooms, that sort of thing.

In the evening we sat on the street at one of the bars in the backpacker district and watched the nightlife go by. I especially liked that for locals walking around in a matching pyjama set seemed to be acceptable attire for the evening, or any time of day for that matter, and that pet dogs and cats are firmly tied up inside restaurants and bars.

Day 288 – Vietnam history 102

Today we went for the easy option and joined a tour group to visit the Cu Chi tunnels on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh.

Fighting our way out of the city through millions of motorcycles.

Our tour guide introduced himself in Vietnamese, conceded straight away that his name was too difficult for most foreigners to pronounce and instead suggested we simply call him “Number 1” and he in turn would refer to us as “My family” (handy later when we were getting lost amongst the other tour groups with their guides yelling “My group this way!”). The first stop on our tour was at Handicapped Handicrafts, set up immediately after the war to provide employment opportunities for the injured and disabled, they pump out a huge array of goods, primarily focusing on lacquerware.

The Cu Chi Tunnels were originally a network of hundreds of kilometres of tiny tunnels belonging to the Viet Cong and stretching from the Cambodian border right into South Vietnamese Saigon. Their existence was well known by the South Vietnamese and American forces, and they tried to bomb them out of existence, flood them, sent attack dogs down them and some unlucky soldiers too, but all to no avail.

Nowadays not much remains of the tunnels but a section of the tunnels has been recreated/preserved to form what would be best described as a theme park. Many of the installations that would have originally been underground, weapons factories, barracks, etc. have been recreated above ground to better serve the needs of claustrophobic tourists. Even the section of tunnel available to tourist has been widened, though its still quite small. The complex also contains trap demonstrations, a destroyed US tank, a firing range, not to mention the usual gift shops and restaurants.

Learning how to disappear.

Number 1 demonstrating one of the fairly nasty traps employed by the Viet Cong.

Animated models making bombs in one of the ‘bunkers’.

Neither of us had ever fired a gun, and whilst the vibe of doing it here was certainly a little strange, we figured it would be quite some time until we had another opportunity to fire an AK47. We both missed the massive target by miles, not really a problem seeing as neither of us has any aspirations whatsoever to be shooting at real things. It was much louder than I thought it would be, but the gun didn’t kick as much as I expected.

Erin heading underground.

The tunnels are only about a metre high (and these are the enlarged tourist versions), I can see how the Vietnamese who are generally quite slight would have a substantial advantage over any American who was unlucky enough to find himself down there.

The tour bus dropped us back in Ho Chi Minh at the War Remnants Museum. Originally this place was known as the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes, and while many of the tales here were well documented in the West at the time, the American War (as it’s known in Vietnam) was a long way before our time. The displays were distinctly one sided, but I guess there is the adage about winners of wars getting to write history, at least here in Vietnam.

There was an extensive list of disturbing displays, the stories behind which I certainly couldn’t do justice to here. Plus I guess most people reading this who are in their forties or older are probably more than familiar with many of them. I think the display with the most impact related to ongoing birth-deformities caused by the extensive use of the defoliant Agent Orange. There was also an excellent display on the top floor dedicated to Vietnamese and foreign photo-journalists, with some incredibly moving pictures and some of the stories behind their creation.

It’s sad to think how the war shaped Vietnam and how it still affects it today with so many disabled people, terrible memories, unexploded ordinance and land mines. I also wonder if our children will be visiting a similar museum in Bagdad in years to come.

On the flipside it was interesting to hear an American couple talking about their visit to Vietnam. They had been a little hesitant when planning the trip, but had arrived to find not the slightest animosity. Of course smaller numbers of Australian and New Zealand troops also served alongside the Americans, two of my Uncles included.

Some street decorations we encountered whilst wandering around downtown HCMC.

For dinner we went to Huong Lai, a beautiful restaurant in the loft of a French-era shophouse staffed by former street children, the food again delicious.

Day 289 – Retail therapy, for Erin anyway

On our first day in Ho Chi Minh City Erin had spotted a dress she liked in a dressmaker’s window and had commissioned one in her size (for about a third of the cost of an off the rack equivalent in Australia). So our first job for today was to go collect it, unfortunately it wasn’t quite ready the first time we dropped in, and didn’t quite fit the second time.

So while we were waiting for the alterations to be made we headed for Ben Thahn market. After a cheap and cheery breakfast of noodles at one of the many stalls in the food section we started trying to systematically cover the market. Of course frequent distractions meant we failed miserably and did many laps round to get the things we were after, like some sparkly things for Erin, fabric for her Mum, a new wallet for me and some pressies for others.

Erin deep in negotiations stocking up on quilting fabric for Margaret.

In some parts of the market the ladies running the stalls were outright aggressive, grabbing at your sleeve, shouting and trying to steer you into their shop. Whereas some of the other stalls had taken the opposite approach, the ladies were helpful but not pushy, stock was not in huge stacks but clearly displayed, and prices were all marked with big ‘no bargaining’ signs hanging about the place. The latter were undoubtedly slightly more expensive (assuming you had the energy and expertise to bargain with the aggressive ladies), but needless to say the calm stores were doing a roaring trade while the shouting ladies had tourists sprinting the opposite direction!

Our lunch on the first day was so nice that we decided to head back to the same place for a late lunch today before finally getting Erin’s finished dress.

On our way back to the hotel fireworks began in celebration of Reunification Day, but we were too stuffed to go check them out properly.

Day 290 – Catching up

This morning we checked out and hopped on our bus to Phnom Penh across the border in Cambodia. With Cambodia being especially renowned for its high level of corruption and with us needing to acquire Cambodian visas at the border I was sure we were going to be shaken down, but we crossed without a hitch. Well almost.

We changed some money with a woman who was trying to handle about three transactions at once (it’s illegal to take Vietnamese Dong out of Vietnam), and money was flying back and forth so fast I was concerned there was some sort of scam going on. On the contrary once we had cleared customs the woman came barging onto the bus and started yelling at us in a mix of Vietnamese and English. We eventually managed to gather that she thought we had scammed her (for about US$8), when none of her countrymen on the bus came to her aid she stormed off in a huff. We didn’t have her eight dollars, so I guess she stuffed up one of the other transactions she was trying to conduct at the same time. And I guess it wasn’t her idea of a scam either because she was demanding we give her back the Cambodian Riel we had bought off her, but we had only bought US dollars, so that would have been quite impossible.

Our detour to Cambodia was primarily to drop in on friends Jane and Michael who are working on various development projects based in Phnom Penh. We also found out a few weeks before arriving that a couple of our other friends, Andrew and Rowena, are doing likewise. So Michael met us off the bus and we dropped our stuff at their house before hailing a tuktuk, collecting Jane and heading to the Russian Market for a delicious late lunch of spring rolls over rice noodles and avocado shakes. Meanwhile a tropical storm rolled in and several creeks started flowing through the market flushing a few rats out of their holes!

After relaxing for a few hours it was time for another meal. Along with Jane and Michael’s house mates we formed a bicycle gang and rode through the rain in our coloured ponchos to an Indonesian restaurant in one of the backstreets nearby. There we met Andrew and Rowena, caught up on news, dined in style again and finally headed out for $1.50 jugs of beer at a nearby bar.

Siargao

2010-08-31T15:04:00.000+10:00

Day 279 – Crash and burn

The kind lady owner of Mondsee Land Resort who was heading back to Cebu as well gave us a ride to the ferry (at 6am!), helped us buy tickets, waited to make sure we got on board and then arranged a transfer to the airport for us at the other end. The plane left at around the boarding time again so it’s great that she had done all that for us so we had plenty of time to spare.

Once we had made it to Siargao Island (pronounced “Shar-gow”, one of the most famous surfing destinations in the Philippines), we were shuffled into one of the waiting minivans to “Cloud 9” where all the backpacker resorts are. On the way we chatted to Jetjet, a local surfing champion (Winner 2009 of the Billabong comp held here each year, we were told at least 4 times)! He also offered lessons when the waves were small, so I let his marketing work on me and we agreed to meet up later in the afternoon.

My first lesson on actual waves (unlike the puddle at Baler) was tougher than I thought it would be! I got nowhere near standing up and couldn’t even get my feet in the right position. I had decided that my arms were too short for my legs, but agreed to give it another go in the morning. I spent part of that night trying to work out some standing up techniques as the technique I was shown by Jetjet didn’t even work on land! Matt had a surf too, but described his experience as “largely crash and burn” so it was unsuccessful day all round!

The view from our room.

Day 280 – Surf, eat, nap, eat, surf, eat, sleep!

Up bright and sparky at 5.30am for my next lesson, I was determined to give my new technique of getting to one knee first a go, instead of the Twister move Jetjet wanted me to do. I saw a lot of the other girls using it and it was marginally more successful as I stood up briefly once or twice. I thought Jetjet would be happy, but instead he cracked it! He said I would never be a good surfer if I did it like that!! He insisted I go back to his technique and keep trying. My mind was saying that he obviously knows something about surfing but then he’s 5 and a half feet and ripped, easy to say when you’re not 5’9” and frustratingly unfit! Matt was much more successful this morning and looked really good in the clean breaking aqua waves. I would even go so far as to say he looked cool… which is unusual for him!

Between the morning and afternoon sessions we had something to eat and a nap and then it was time to ask the all knowing Google, YouTube…oh and Matt for some help. I showed Matt the three step move I was told to do by Jetjet and he showed me the one fluid motion I was eventually aiming for. Turns out that skipping the steps and heading straight for the end product was the only way for me to get up! That afternoon, there was much less wave eating and a few more successful wave rides, just briefly.

The relaxation hut at our accommodation Ocean 101.

Matt enjoying said hut.

Day 281 – Pain in the …face?

This morning I woke up in agony. I had been fighting a slight sinus infection after diving so many days in a row, but it wasn’t bothering me or my balance – until now! The pain in my cheeks and teeth and the attached headache was so bad there would be no surfing this morning. I sent Matt off to deliver the message to Jetjet on his way to the waves and went back to bed.

Matt on the other hand was feeling more comfortable on bigger waves and swapped to a board more like the one he has at home. After breakfast, more reading and napping for both of us, Matt went back for the afternoon set. I went out a bit later to take some photos, but he was already coming back in complaining the waves were crappy this afternoon.

A pier has been built out over the reef so it is easier to get in and out of the water and also provides for a viewing platform for when comps are on.

However, the boardwalk needed a little repairing. Only a day after we arrived they began these repairs, but that left us balancing on planks of wood spanning up to a 3 or 4 metre gap with surf board under arm instead!

Day 282 – Crowd 9

The day off and early night must have worked for me as this morning (and with a little push from Jetjet) I was catching and getting up much more consistently, even if unstylishly. After Matt’s sleep in he came down to take some pictures of my efforts:

Up but not stylishly!

As I was still feeling unwell, we hired a bike and drove into Dapa, the bigger town about 30km away, to get some drugs for my sinuses and a haircut for Matt. The best we could get were some decongestants, but that teamed up with some painkillers seemed to be enough to get me back on a surf board.

As we still had a bit of extra time on the way back from Dapa, we decided to head back a different way to the way we came. Actually, more like Matt’s eyes lit up at the fork in the road just outside Dapa, (the way we came vs. dirt) and I couldn’t say no. He assured me that the dirt road went back to Cloud 9 and that it followed the coast the long way. I learn this lesson time and time again, but that’s what I get for being married to an explorer.

So we ended up in Pilar, on the other side of the island and at a dead end with no choice but to reverse the route back to the fork in the road. We also made it there at about the time we were supposed to have the bike back to the guy we borrowed it from and so as if the dirt roads weren’t scary enough, I had to keep telling Matt to slow down all the way back (mostly by pinching him when I could see the speedo tick over 60!). The guy didn’t seem too fussed about us being late (Filipino time must still exist in small towns, just not airlines) and we even had time for a short nap before the afternoon session of surfing, which had been getting later with the tides. The waves here are all reef breaks and at low tide there is only about a foot of water under the waves – not good for learning!

This afternoon was great for both of us and I was especially happy that I could get up now and ride for a decent amount of time… I just needed to work on my direction a bit as I ran into a few people! Cloud 9 had turned into a bit more like “Crowd 9” with the amount of people out today and it was getting frustrating now that I had graduated to the big kid’s wave and was actually catching waves to have the local heroes cut in front leaving me with no choice but to bail. The instructors were frustrated as well and would yell out to them to get out the way if it was a wave they thought would be good for us and they seemed to respect that. Matt on the other hand didn’t have anyone to yell at them for him and was quite frustrated with one particular guy that seemed to be on every wave he went for.

That night we chatted again with the little group of seven we had seemed to have formed in the restaurant attached to the resort. The other five had decided to do the “Island Hopping” tour organised by the hotel in the morning. We initially weren’t keen, especially now I was getting somewhere with the surfing, but agreed very late in the evening that a morning off surfing would be good, especially for my aching muscles.

Day 283 – Island Hopping

We were up just after 6, ready for our 7am departure on the island hopping tour. The main aim of the day was a change of scenery and some sun, as well as some snorkelling at one of the islands. The 7am departure was more like 8.30 or 9 by the time the boat man arrived, we waited for our take-away lunch to be cooked and scavenged some snorkels (given they weren’t provided by the tour!).

Playing games while waiting for the boatman.

Our first destination was Guyam Island. About 100m across, the highlights were the crystal clear aqua water and a huge dead sea snake on the beach. Matt and Manu, our new Indian Swedish friend did a lap of the island with the snorkels but only saw some fish. After a bit of time swimming, we signalled the boatman and were off to Naked Island.

Guyam Island

Naked Island is just that. A sandbar in the middle of nowhere with no trees! The book suggested is may also be a nudist island if you so wished as it would only be the boatman watching you. Yeah sure!

Last but not least was Daku, a much bigger island that was actually inhabited. The beach here was quite nice even though the sand was coarse and we spent the afternoon in one of the beach shelters eating lunch, reading, chatting, and listening to the French girl Natalie’s songs on the ukulele, including her favourite (and Matt’s absolute least favourite) Poker Face acoustic style. A very pleasant day with some excellent tan lines to match.

Natalie and her ukulele gathering some local interest (the old lady watching over her right shoulder, who earlier was picking up shells off the beach to try and sell to us).

The view from our beach hut.

Matt trying to capture the reflection in my sunnies without getting himself in the shot!

The beach huts.

A local inhabitant.

We made it back to Cloud 9 in time for the afternoon session. Matt opted to hit the bar while I opted to take advantage of the last hour of daylight. I shouldn’t have bothered as after a day in the sun I was way too exhausted and so didn’t go very well!

Day 284 - Get up, stand up

This morning’s session was much quieter than it gets in the afternoon, well and truly worth getting up early for. Again I was catching almost everything, but still needed to work on my direction a bit more. I was getting the hang of how to use weight to steer though. Baby steps! Matt had a good morning too, although the board he had borrowed was missing the middle fin so may have done better if they bothered to fix it like they said they would.

The instructors sang this a lot as they stood in a line almost neck high helping us catch waves.

After two hours in the water, it was back to 101 Ocean Resort to continue with our daily routine – eat, nap, eat, read and then back to the surf. My instructor Jetjet had asked me to pay up to today this morning as there was a big cock fight that afternoon that his cock “Red Chicken” was entered into. Glad to see my hard earned bucks are going to good use! He invited us to come, but I politely declined.

I headed down to the pier at 5pm for the afternoon session, but Jetjet was nowhere to be found. Normally he spots me before I spot him and comes in from the surf. I asked around his mates and everyone said he was still at the cockfight! Should have known! So turns out I was stood up.

I watched Matt for a hour or so from the viewing platform. A 12 year old local girl MayMay sparked up a conversation with me and as well as her life story, she told me all about the surf spots in the area, knew all the pleasantries in about 6 languages (I guess from quizzing foreigners!) and the only thing she wanted in life was her own surf board. She had pointed out her 17 year old brother to me carving it up in the surf. Turns out he is sponsored and has at least seven boards, was given a mobile phone and is treated to all kinds of things not many kids around here get. He had been loaning her a board and teaching her to the point where she came 4th in last year’s junior’s competition. She had admired one of my bracelets from Peru earlier on in discussions and so I took it off and gave it to her for good luck in this year’s competition, about two weeks away. Then she said she can’t go in it this year as she had a fight with her brother and he won’t lend her the board! Poor little thing! She was only down at the pier because her mum wanted her to sell Biko to the tourists. Given we had been chatting for about 2 hours and I had answered all of her questions she gave me some (I had no money as I was supposed to be surfing!). It is basically sweet sticky rice mixed with coconut – tasty!

Eating biko was all the signal needed for a bunch (at least 10!) of other Filipino tourists standing on the platform to come up to me and start asking questions, firstly about whether I like their food and their country (yes and yes!) and then about all kinds of other things ending in photographs and hugs with all of them and the ladies not being able to get over the fact I was twice their height! I had to jog back to 101 to catch the second quarter of the footy playing by satellite. Go dogs!

Day 285 – Watch out Rip Curl Pro

This morning’s session was my best yet. The waves were clean, I was catching everything, even turning into the right hand break! Everything was finally clicking. I graduated to catching my own waves where Jetjet would just tell me which waves to paddle for and not push me into them. It was a nice feeling after feeling so pathetic on the first day. Am still not sure how I will go once it’s back to the freezing cold waters of Victoria, but it’s a least worth trying now. I had hoped that Matt would come down with the camera again, but he slept in… so no evidence. Damn!

Jetjet was having a good day too. I asked him first thing “Is Red Chicken still alive??” as there was no point saying “Where were you yesterday?” Given I knew where he was! He jumped up and down and told me enthusiastically “Yes! Red Chicken is the Champion!” He apologised for not meeting me at the pier. Because Red Chicken kept winning, he had to stay around for the next fight. He told me he also won 1,000 pesos ($25AUD), but at 500 pesos an hour from me, failed to see the logic in my cheeky suggestion that he should just teach more to make the same money. I think he was more after the glory, given the local Mayor was there and shook his hand!

A happy Jetjet.

Given my mammoth morning session of about 2 and a half hours (it’s tiring stuff!), and Matt’s lack of enthusiasm for fighting for the one wave, we spent the rest of the day being lazy. We chatted with a couple of Aussies, one who was a diver there exploring the area looking to set up a dive resort and shop. He didn’t seem impressed that the local fisherman still get away with illegal dynamite fishing (understandably for a diver!) and was having meetings with the Mayor (at the cockfight actually…) to try and get something done about it. He said the Mayor was a reasonable guy and seems to understand what further tourism will do for this mostly untouched island. A shame for future surfers and divers looking to get off the track a bit.

We had a few beers at the bar across the road, but I was determined to get in one more 6am session in the morning before we left in the morning and so I bailed early. Matt says I didn’t miss much, although Jetjet showed up looking to shout a round!

Day 286 – Amazing Race

Although not as good as the morning before (my paddle muscles were DEAD) I managed to get an hour in before the bus arrived to take us back to the airport and onto Cebu. Once in Cebu we hit the mall with a few others from the flight to kill time, get lunch and passport photos made for our Vietnam visas.

Siargao Airport. We laughed at the fire crew who, at the appropriate moment right before a plane comes in, stop playing cards, don oversized jackets and helmets, pile onto the fire truck and drive out onto the tarmac only to have the plane land without bursting into flames so they can go back to their cards. Matt and I thought they must be pretty disappointed all the time!

Bored with the mall we decided to head back to the airport early. A lucky decision. We were there about 4pm for our 6.20pm flight to Manila and told that the flight was delayed at least three hours. This would have us missing our connection from Manila to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam at 11.20pm. After working out whether it was better to change the HCMC flight, which we couldn’t or have us miss the connection (leaving us stuck in Manila two days til the next flight, an unpleasant thought) we decided to demand a refund and find another flight. While Matt did the demanding, I ran around to all the other agencies, Amazing Race style, trying to work out the best and cheapest method to get to Manila asap given we were now going to be out-of-pocket.

I got us the last two tickets on an 8.10pm flight with Philippines Air (tricky given there were others running around doing this too) although when asking the lady if the flight was definitely going to be on time and definitely going to arrive in Manila at 9.30pm (giving us about 20 minutes to check in to the next flight) she ended up doing us one better and getting us on the already closed, boarded and about to taxi 5.15pm flight! So we had plenty of time to make the connection to Vietnam and were on our way. On assessment at Manila airport we wouldn’t have made the short connection time anyway as the domestic and international terminal are miles apart and the shuttles frustratingly infrequent.

Bohol

2010-08-23T20:56:00.001+10:00

Day 273 – Nuts Huts

This morning we finally posted some postcards that we had been hanging onto for weeks, months even! Very slack. We finally accepted a lift back to the airport from one of the four or five trike drivers that hung out at the hotel entrance asking us if we needed a trike every time we left the building. The guy turned out to be super friendly and had hand written business cards that he gave us so that we could call him next time we were in Puerto Princesa!

Our flight left early, as expected, and the flight hostess proudly announced that we had touched down in Cebu 30 minutes ahead of schedule. We are beginning to think this is a ploy to improve the airlines’ terrible on time record. We got a taxi straight to the docks and were on a ferry without having to wait very long.

I decided to wait until the ferry had pulled out of the dock before telling Erin that ferries were the worst possible form of transport available in the Philippines and that the Australian Government recommend only taking them if its the only option! A ferry holding 5,000 passengers recently sank with no survivors. Scary!

Coming out of the ferry terminal in Tagbilaran we tried to negotiate a ride to the bus terminal, but ended up getting a ride the whole way to our destination instead. Nuts Huts are a collection of wooden cabins strung along the Loboc River in the mountainous jungle interior of Bohol Island. The trike dropped us at the end of the entrance road, 700m long and basically just a rough bush track, we were beginning to wonder if we were lost when we finally got to the entrance. From there hundreds of stairs lead down toward the river, with a beautiful open air restaurant / relaxing area halfway down.

The top set of stairs, the bottom set was just as long. Aside from improving our stair climbing fitness, it also made sure we were sharp in the morning, forgetting something and having to go back to our hut to get it was a major downer!

Out Nuts Hut.

From the restaurant you could look out over the river and the jungle. The sunsets each night were beautiful and when the sun went down the tree just off the balcony was a meeting place for fireflies. Plus they had a good collection of old National Geographic magazines that kept me entertained for hours on end!

Day 274 – Tiny Ewoks

This morning we set out for the Tarsier Sanctuary. These strange creatures are the worlds smallest primates, they are only about 10cm tall but their eyes are massive, 150 times larger than human eyes proportionally speaking. Their closest living relatives are lemurs, but in many ways they resemble tiny monkeys, or my Mum thought perhaps little Ewoks.

To get to the sanctuary we finally used one of the Philippines’ many Jeepneys, basically stretched jeeps with bench seating in the back. They are cheap and they go practically everywhere, many are ornately decorated, but they can get crowded and hot.

When we got to the sanctuary we were pleased to discover that there were only a few other people there. It seems that as the sanctuary only allows a couple of people into the tarsier viewing area at a time the place has stayed off the organised tour route, at least for big groups anyway. There are however many places elsewhere in Bohol with caged tarsiers for tourist viewing. This in combination with capture for the pet trade, deforestation and predation by domestic and feral animals have left the wild tarsier population threatened. To make matters worse caged and pet tarsiers generally die quickly in captivity as their keepers are not able to feed them the live insects they need.

The sanctuary is interesting because although the tarsiers are in a fenced enclosure they are essentially wild. Because they can jump further than their major predators they can clear the fences at night to go out and hunt, then return to the enclosure during the day to sleep and be peered at by curious tourists.

As each tarsier has its own bit of turf in the enclosure the guides generally know where to find them. So once we had waited for the two people in front of us to leave the enclosure (which is a couple of hectares in size) our guide ushered us through the gate and right up to where one of the little critters was sleeping. They were surprising nonplussed about people and just sat in their tree wide eyed while we stood similarly wide-eyed checking them out.

Tarsiers’ eyes are fixed in their skull, so they can pivot their head 180 degrees in either direction like an owl, this just adds to how strange they look.

I tried to get a photo of Erin with one, but this was difficult because they are so tiny and you’re not allowed to get too close. If you look really carefully there is a tarsier about a third of the way up from the bottom of the photo at the far left hand side.

After the tarsier sanctuary we headed back to Nuts Huts and spent the afternoon exploring the surrounds. We swam across the river to the walking path on the other side and walked up through a little village and on to a small waterfall. As we passed through the village most of the people were out on a covered platform in the river, playing guitar and singing. The waterfall wasn’t anything special, but we enjoyed our swim back downstream to Nuts Huts.

Big spider near the waterfall (which we never properly saw).

Day 275 – They’re nice but you can’t eat them

Today’s primary objective was to visit the Chocolate Hills. Along with the tarsiers the Bohol Tourist Board heavily plugs the Chocolate Hills, a collection of oddly shaped hills which turn brown in the dry season, supposedly resembling chocolate drops.

Getting off the bus we had to convince several motorcycle drivers that we were quite content walking the last 15 minutes up to the view point.

There were hundreds of tourists at the viewing point, mostly Filipinos, so I guess all the advertising is working.

In dry season they look more chocolatey apparently.

Rainstorm coming in over the ‘Chocolate Hills Complex’, basically a ring of souvenir shops built on a saddle between two of the hills.

For lunch we headed to the Butterfly Sanctuary in Bilar. After a nice meal looking out over the gardens we were given a tour around the gardens by an enthusiastic young guide.

Special freaky half female, half male butterflies in a display case at the restaurant.

Our final stop for the day was to Logarita Pool, a man made pool fed by a natural spring on the edge of the rice paddies. Our tricycle driver dropped us there (at the end of a road several kilometres out of town) and then disappeared, leaving us wondering if we’d have to walk back to the highway. Instead when it was time to leave we paid for a ride with a local guy on his motorcycle, a bit scary!

One of the locals helped me wet the ‘water slide’, the steep concrete chute you can see at the back left of the photo, so we could have a couple of goes. It was pretty vicious on the behind!

Day 276 – Waiting for the bus

As we got to the end of the Nuts Huts access track it started pouring down, so we scurried into the little shelter by the side of the road where a few of the locals were already sitting out the rain. We were busy chatting to the locals and trying to stay dry, so when the first bus drove past we didn’t have time to get out and signal it. An hour later the rain had finally eased and we made in onto the next bus.

The local kids constructing what I guess you’d call mud bombs. They all jumped out of the trees as we walked the bush path to Nuts Huts yelling “Bomb! Bomb!”

Our plan had been to go to the mall in Tagbilaran (the main town on Bohol) to get some cash and burn DVDs before heading out to Panglao Island to have lunch at an organic farm, the Bohol Bee Farm. But with having missed the bus we were a little behind schedule for lunch and there turned out to be a coffee shop of the Bohol Bee Farm at the mall, so we ate there instead.

By the time we had eaten lunch, looked around the shops, burned DVDs and posted them it was time to get the bus back to Nuts Huts before it got dark, not much of a day in the end but at least we finally got a couple of months worth of photos backed up.

Day 277 - Hung

After extensive research yesterday while the DVDs were burning I’d decided that it was going to be extremely difficult to get from Bohol to Siargao by ferry, and pretty hard to justify given the cheap airfares on offer. So instead of a couple of days getting on and off ferries we opted for a couple of days at the touristy beach resort of Alona.

So after dropping back through the mall to book some flights we got a trike out to Alona and wandered around until we found a nice place to stay. Back from the beach but with a nice pool and friendly staff, plus a hefty off season discount, we opted for the strangely named Mondsee Land Resort. As we went to check in we realised that we had left our document pouches (including passports) in the safe back at Nuts Hut, doh!

We decided to worry about that tomorrow and instead headed out for dinner before returning home to listen to Radio Australia and the Australian Federal Election call. By the time we went to bed at well after midnight Australian time the result was clear, hung.

Day 278 – Retrieval exercise

My job for the day was to retrieve our passports etc. Not thrilled with the idea of getting all the way there and back again by public transport (an all day exercise more or less) I wandered down the street and finally took up an offer to hire a motorcycle (after being pestered for weeks!). Weeks as a passenger had given me rough idea of the road ‘rules’ and I didn’t have to ride through any big cities, so the trip wasn’t too intimidating, and only took me about 3 hours in the end.

Mid afternoon we headed down to the beach to a restaurant serving meat pies, yum (for me anyway, Erin opted for a pizza). The rest of the day we spent lazing around the pool, life’s tough sometimes.

Puerto Princesa

2010-08-18T20:50:00.001+10:00

Day 271 – FAIL!

With a 9am flight to catch from Coron to Puerto Princesa we were up early, but not early enough to avoid having to scoff our breakfast in time for our 7am airport shuttle. Of course come 7:30 the shuttle still wasn’t there and we were starting to worry that we wouldn’t make check-in. I finally convinced the girl at the desk to call and find out what was happening, she reported that he was on his way and not to worry. When the guy actually arrived he did look worried, he hurried us out to the van (of which we were the only passengers) and then drove like a madman to get us there with a whole two minutes to spare before check-in closed. This might sound like a lot, but every flight we’ve caught in the Philippines have left early, sometimes by up to 40 minutes, meaning check-in and boarding can close within minutes of one another.

Our day didn’t improve when we got Puerto Princesa. We opted for the guidebook recommended Casa Linda Inn especially because it noted how friendly and helpful the staff were and we knew we’d need some help arranging tomorrow’s trip to the subterranean river. However when we got there the woman on the desk barely said a word to us, instead she seemed peeved that we had upset the game she was playing on the computer. We checked-in anyway figuring that the shift would have to change eventually and she might be replaced by someone more helpful, alas this didn’t happen. (Things got worse that night when it turned out that the two French families staying there had appointed the room next to us the kids’ room and the room on the opposite side of the complex the adults’ room!)

We had all afternoon to spare so we decided to do a job we’d been putting off for a while, burning a backup of our Canada and Japan photos to send home for safe keeping. We walked from one side of town to the other, several kilometres in total, in and out of more than a dozen internet places looking for somewhere with a burner we could use. Several places had burners on their front desk PC but wouldn’t let us use it or plug into it, and when one finally did, their PC refused to recognise our portable disk drive. In the end the exercise was a complete failure except for a lot of exercise in the stinking afternoon heat.

To cap things off we caught a trike across town to Neva’s Place, supposedly the best pizza in town. It was ordinary at best, then any benefits that may have come from our early night were thoroughly negated by the aforementioned French kids. Tomorrow’s another day!

Day 272 – The Subterranean River

First thing we boarded our little tour bus, went and collected the Filipino / Canadian family we’d been paired with for the day and headed for Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. Quite a mouthful, it’s basically a fairly long stretch of navigable river running though some big caves. With a huge amount of effort the local government has had it short listed to become one of the ‘New 7 Wonders of the World’, it’s nice and all but I think they’re drawing a pretty long bow!

In what seems to becoming a Filipino tradition we arrived well early of our allotted time (boats into the caves are strictly scheduled), so we spent some time lying on the picturesque beach (this turned out the be a mistake, because the really fine white sand was nearly impossible to wash off). We then had lunch (at 10:30am!) before getting on a boat around a couple of coves to the cave entrance.

Sabang Beach.

A fresh coconut to drink from with lunch.

Before heading to the caves we stopped to watch a few monitor lizards rooting around in the undergrowth. This one is a small one apparently, I’m sure Mum would have liked him all the same.

The cave entrance is in a small tidal lagoon behind the first dune.

At the entrance we were all decked out in life vests and coloured hard hats. The girl at the front of the boat got to control the flash light and the park worker at the back steering the boat chastised anyone who lent even slightly to the side. These two facts combined made it very difficult to get a decent photo inside.

As our guide paddled us through the cave he pointed out what I suppose some people must consider interesting features, such as formations resembling vegetables, religious icons, naked women, that sort of thing. After pointing out each thing he would, without fail, say “OK Mam, Sir, we will now continue our sightseeing tour”, he must have said it 50 times in 30 minutes. Apart from ‘interesting’ formations he also talked briefly about the cave’s natural history and history of exploration, topics I found quite a bit more interesting.

Bats sleeping on the ceiling of the cave.

Another tour boat heading past us in the dark. By far the most impressive area we passed through they referred to as St Pauls dome, although slightly smaller than the original, this one has an underground lake, making it very pretty. Even with strong floodlighting, solid ground and a tripod it would have been a challenge to photograph, with just our piddly flash and from our wobbly perch aboard a moving boat it was impossible to capture.

Reputed no more, a cave recently discovered in Mexico has around 20 times more subterranean river.

This afternoon we had another chore to do - upon arrival in the Philippines we were only given 21 days to stay. We could have avoided this by getting a visa before we arrived but we were too disorganised. So now we had to go visit the local immigration office, one room manned by two ladies above a travel agent on the road out of town. The process was only supposed to take 15 minutes but there was a collection of people in front of us with some serious overstays that it was taking the ladies a long time to process. They had a boat and I suspect were thinking of sneaking out of the country without an exit stamp until they realised they might have trouble getting into Malaysia without it. Anyway, eventually she finished with them, we handed over a whopping 3,030 pesos each (A$75) and in turn received our 38 day visa extensions (even though we only needed an extra 6 days).

For dinner we went to Kailui which was both close to our hotel and highly recommended. When we got there we were told we would have to wait for a table, despite it being a Monday night. While we were waiting an Australian guy came past and reassured us it was worth the wait, telling us he believed it was the nicest meal he had had in years anywhere in the world.

With our expectations high we were ushered barefoot (a no shoes rule applies) to our table in the huge open air wooden pavilion. We opted for the set of the day designed to be shared by two. It started with a clam and seaweed soup, not the kind of seaweed you might find in Japanese soup, it looked more like a peppercorn branch and each one popped in your mouth. Main course was a variety of fish and prawns each with their own delicious sauce and dessert was fresh fruit. I mightn’t go so far as to call it the nicest meal we’ve had in years but it was certainly delicious, fresh and somewhat original, not to mention cheap, including beers it was less than 20 Australian Dollars for the two of us.

Erin showing off her fancy seaweed.

Coron Town

2010-08-15T14:23:00.001+10:00

Day 266 – Proud Aussies

This morning we were down at the Australian Embassy at 10am exercising our right to vote in the forthcoming Federal Election. We passed through security at the entrance to the building, had our identification checked at a second post, were buzzed up to the 23rd floor where our bags were scanned and then taken off us (except for our passports) and then were walked up to the 24th floor. The first thing we heard when we entered reception on the 24th floor were three Aussie blokes in their 70’s or 80’s speaking broad ocka – weird to hear after so long! We filled in a form with our address so the lady knew where to send our votes and which papers to give us, but no one bothered to check our ID for the voting bit! There was a huge gold coat of arms in the lift area that I asked politely if I could photograph – of course the answer was no! So we had to settle for this one outside:

But even then they were about to called security on us!!

We hurried back to Makati Apartelle, said goodbye to Dharma (below) and then back to the airport for our flight to Coron Town.

We landed in on the island of Busuanga in a tropical downpour and rolled our eyes at each other before scurrying across the tarmac to the terminal building. Before we knew it we were shuttled into Coron Town, checked into Sea Dive Resort and organising a dive for the morning.

All that was left to do now was have a beer in the restaurant downstairs and enjoy the view:

Watching as another storm rolls through. We’re still hoping for sunshine at some stage in the Philippines, although we can’t complain too much – it is rainy season!

Day 267 – Scuba Review

Although we are both Advanced Divers it had been about 2.5 years for me and at least 18 months since Matt had been diving, so we did a “Scuba Review” day today which was aimed at getting us back in touch with our Scuba Zen.

After passing a written exam and practicing our Dive Table calculations, we headed out to CYC Beach with Borge our very smiley instructor to practice some of the safety signals and manoeuvres like recovering our regulators, mask emptying and buoyancy, etc all at about 6 metres. Demonstrating that we haven’t lost the touch and with plenty of air left we got to spend a bit of time exploring the nearby reef and saw lots of clown fish families playing in soft pink coral, a Juvenile Sweet Lips (fish) which was black with huge white spots, a Barracuda school swimming by and two Lion Fish stuck together. It was so disappointed not to have the dive camera with us this trip – no photos sorry!

Given neither of us had any troubles with skills, Borge took us on a second dive at Seven Islands Marine Park just to get some more buoyancy practice in, ready for “Wreck Diving”. Near Coron in the bays and inlets around the islands, several WWII Japanese warships thought they were safely hiding, but were subsequently bombed and sunk by the US on 24 September 1944 via a daring long range air attack. Some of the planes sent to bomb these ships even ran out of fuel on the way back! Anyways, these ships now make the area well known for wreck diving, something we’ve never tried before.

(Photo courtesy of Google images.)

The highlight of the Seven Islands dive was a Hawksbill Turtle resting on a huge coral table, but we also saw lots of fluoro coral, a giant clam, one tiny black and white nudibranch and lots of fish including Batfish, Titan Triggerfish, Snapper, Groupers, Emperor and Damsel fish.

Hawksbill Turtle (courtesy of Google images).

At the end of the day Borge said he thought we would have no worries getting in and around the wrecks, which made me feel a lot more confident as I wasn’t sure about wanting to go inside a sunken ship!

Sunset from our room on the third floor of Sea Dive.

And from the restaurant again…

Day 268 – First wreck didn’t wreck us!

Enthused that we hadn’t “lost the touch”, we signed up for some wreck diving today. There was a big group headed out on the boat, although the first part of the journey out was rather quiet for us - between the Filipino, French, German and Japanese all speaking to each other in their native tongue, we were the only native English speakers!

Our dive launch – was more of a dive raft!

First stop was the Irako, a Japanese refrigeration container ship about 200 metres long. Not only was this our first wreck dive, but probably one of our deepest also (inside 40 metres, deck 28 metres). So needless to say we kept a close eye on each and the Dive Master, although visibility wasn’t too bad.

The Irako! (Courtesy of Google images.)

We saw stuff like this! (Courtesy of Google images.)

And back in the day… (Courtesy of Google images.)

We didn’t get to spend too much time inside as there was a bit of mucking around at the start of the dive with one of the other members of our group of four. He said his ears were playing up, but we suspect he freaked out a little bit and started back up the mooring line without signalling to the Dive Master – a pretty big no-no. That then meant that we had to wait while the DM went to look for him and waiting at 30 metres you obviously go through more air.

It was a little freaky following the mooring line down into nothingness and then this huge thing appearing! We entered the wreck though an opening on the deck, swam along a corridor for a bit and then into a larger space with lots of pipes and valves. We exited through a damage hole and back up onto the deck for a poke around before heading back to the mooring line. A nice intro for our first wreck.

(Courtesy of Google images.)

We saw lots of Lionfish like this guy! (Courtesy of Google images.)

After a long stop and some lunch, our second dive of the day was the Olympia Maru. The Olympia was a 120 metre freighter which ended up lying on it’s side and has lots of nice big spaces to explore. This time we descended to the stern and entered through a cargo hold. We swam through a large area to the boiler room where we could see the two huge boilers, tipped to the side. Then we slipped through a smallish gap at the side of the boilers and swam through a series of smaller cavities and then over and under a series of beams. We exited at the bow and then swam back over the deck to the mooring line. All over the deck huge lotus shaped corals had formed and we saw lots of Lion Fish too. The same guy freaked out again, but this time bothered to signal. Later on deck he was telling his friends that entering the ship reminded him of the tunnels in Vietnam (as a tourist, not in the war…), where he also freaked out, and so he didn’t want to go in. I think this guy might need to admit he’s a claustrophobe and give up trying to wreck dive.

Matt watching me struggle. The worst thing about diving (and surfing)? Wetsuits. Hate em!

The last dive of the day was back at Seven Islands. Visibility wasn’t as good today and we didn’t see anymore turtles, but we did see another black and white nudibranch and some more interesting neon coral we hadn’t noticed the first time round. There was one particular coral that lit up its tips when you swam past – must be a defence!

The nudi was kind of like this! (Courtesy of Google images.)

Two of the seven islands that surround the dive site, making it a ‘marine park’ which the locals are doing their best to try and protect. I still brought back a “fluro light bulb fish” and a “coke bottle fish” with me to the boat though!

Day 269 - Sunset kayaking

This morning we did some internet catching up and general lazing about in recovery from two days diving. You don’t move about much diving, but the long days out on the water and I guess the pressure you place your body under really takes it out of you. Life is tough!

We did make up for our lazy morning in the afternoon though by hiring a double kayak and paddling out to Coron Island to visit Cayangan Lake to swim some laps! We probably should have done it in the morning, instead of an hour and ten minutes paddling into a headwind on the way there and then almost another hour back (with not a breath of wind –damn!) and then arriving back in the dark, but we had a nice day! We saw a sea snake swimming past and paddling into the sunset was very romantic! (Well for us ; P )

We kayaked over to Coron Island and then had to get out, pay an entrance fee of P200 ($5) each to the locals and then take a short hike up and over a hill to the aqua blue lake.

Crystal clear!

The sun setting on us as we paddled!

Day 270 – This day proudly brought to you by Google Images.

Today we were back into diving. The first wreck today was the Kogyo Maru and probably my favourite of the wreck dives we did.

(Courtesy of Google images.)

Once we were down to 30-odd metres we entered into a large cargo hold that housed a tipped over bulldozer – you could still see the steering wheel and the treads were also very clear even with the poor visibility. There were also hundreds of cement bags all in a stack, frozen! It was much easier to picture this ship’s position (on its side) and scale, something I was having trouble imagining on the other dives. We swam into a second cargo hold that housed building supplies and hundreds of bundles of rolled cyclone wire which had formed a cool honeycomb type effect now that it is covered in silt and debris. On the sides on the ship, essentially the top of the wreck we swam through what I call a “fish city” where huge schools of small fish swim together in all directions amongst the swaying coral and plant life all looking very busy. If you wave an arm at them they all dart off course in the same direction! There were also the hugest lotus/lettuce shaped corals I have ever seen and a cute purple and yellow nudibranch that Matt found with a huge yellow branch stuck to his backside. We also did a swim though the empty engine room. Like most of the interesting stuff off these ships, the engine was recovered years ago.

The steering wheel of the bulldozer. (Courtesy of Google images.)

The nudi Matt found looked like this guy, but with a much bigger yellow branch. (Courtesy of Google images.)

After a rest and some lunch, we moved on to the Tangat Wreck, so called as they don’t know the name of the ship, it just sank near Tangat Island. This wreck was largely open and empty, but with huge ladders everywhere and lots of other broken and bent bits to form interesting shapes as we swam through the inside. We saw lots of Lion Fish and a Panther fish and a new coral that was small and purple and shaped like a tall mushroom. You could clearly see the big bomb hole on this one.

When we swan over the deck we could see all the masts poking up. (Courtesy of Google images.)

(Courtesy of Erin van der Peet images.)

(Courtesy of Google images.)

Panther fish. (Courtesy of Google images.)

Our last dive of the day was Barracuda Lake. There wasn’t much to see there, not even a Barracuda, but the interesting thing about this lake was that it was a Thermocline. This meant that there was a layer of freshwater at 28 degrees on the top and then saltwater at 38 degrees at the bottom (usually hot water would rise to the surface). Descending we could clearly see where the fresh and salt water layers meet (at about 15 metres) and the temperature difference was huge! Like falling into a hot spring with all your clothes on! The rock formations around the edges of the lake were quite interesting and it was weird swimming up and down through the layers of hot and cold. The bottom of the lake was like quicksand if you put your hand in it. Not much life though, just some yabbies and a big black and white spotty fish.

We had one beer on the boat on the trip back to Coron which was enough to zap the last bit of energy from me and we were sleeping as soon as we finished dinner.

Baler

2010-08-10T21:46:00.001+10:00

Day 261 – No surf

We were up around 5am (earlier than we had made it to bed the night before (!)) to get a cab across town to the bus depot. We were aiming for the last of the day’s buses to Baler which left at a respectable “sometime between 7 and 7:30” (that’s actually what the timetable says!). We then battled Manila traffic for a while before we hit the expressway. Off the end of the expressway we pulled into Cabanatuan and sat at the terminal there for nearly two hours (so I’m not sure why we used the expressway in the first place). Eventually we headed east into the mountains and after four more hours and another lengthy stop we finally made it to Baler.

Rather informative signage on the loos at one of our many stops.

The tricycle from the bus station deposited us at the most expensive hotel on Sabang Beach, cheap by Japanese standards, but we headed up to the road to Bay’s Inn, a cheaper option that was reputed to have a bit more of a social scene. After checking into our room we headed out the front to check out the surf, as you can imagine after 8 hours on the bus we were keen to see something pretty special. Instead we saw what may as well have been a lake, flat as a tack. But it was too late in the day to surf anyway so we went for a walk one way up the beach where all the little kids showed off their English skills by shouting “What’s your name?” at us over and over. Most of them became overwhelmed when Erin not only answered them, but asked them the same question back in return, we did get a few answers at least. Most just grinned widely and scattered away! Finally we consoled ourselves with a few beers and dinner looking out over the ocean hoping for better luck tomorrow.

The other consolation prize so far as Erin was concerned: Lizzie, the brown lab pup.

Day 262 – Still no surf

When we rolled out of bed in the morning I headed straight out front to check on the swell, perfect 6 inch sets rolling in, great. So we had some lunch and then blogged while a tropical downpour rolled through.

Beautifully clean, but tiny, surf rolling in the midst of a tropical downpour.

When the storm cleared an Australian and some Japanese appeared on the beach with jet-skis. We got the story from them later, apparently they were all working on the same construction project in Singapore and headed to Baler for a long weekend of surf and travelled all night to get there. Upon discovering there was no surf they decided to make the most of it and do some jet-ski-surfing instead.

One of the Japanese guys trying to tow Brett the Australian onto one of the tiny waves while the locals look on amused. I was impressed he could even get going on the surfboard behind the jet-ski, he didn’t manage to get onto any waves though.

It didn’t bother Lizzie that there were no waves, she got plenty of attention instead.

We had some company that night in the form of the Japanese/Australian Singaporeans, but the next day they gave up and drove another eight hours to the west coast to try and at least get one day’s surfing in before they had to fly back to Singapore.

Day 263 – Jogging, not surfing

In the morning we went for a jog up the beach, first one way past all the fishing boats and children asking our name, and then the other way up the more deserted part of the beach. Right as we reached the farthest point it started to rain, but it hardly mattered seen as we were so drenched in sweat anyway.

Late in the afternoon a group of Filipinos showed up to show us that there was in fact enough surf to catch a wave. They were all complete beginners on massive foam boards, but if their instructors gave them a push at the right moment they could actually catch the largest of the tiny waves.

Day 264 – Let’s just call it a lake.

We seriously toyed with the idea of leaving today, but seen as the Filipino beginners had managed to have a surf lesson the afternoon before we decided to give it a crack.

We had to wait all day for the tiny swell to build sufficiently so we went for another walk up the beach to take some photos and get asked our names another couple of hundred times. It was also interesting to see the local fishing technique which seemed to involve using a boat to drop a net well offshore then having about half a dozen people on the shore spend the next hour or so hauling it back onto the beach.

Me in front of the Bay’s Inn. The beach in the background in Charlies Point, where the surfing scene in Apocalypse Now was shot. Legend has it that the film crew left behind a few surfboards and by the time some intrepid Aussies showed up a few years later many of the locals could already surf!

The little harbour at the north end of Sabang Beach.

Erin and Jason waiting for a ‘wave’ (those of you with keen memories and nothing better to do with your time but to read our blog will recall that our kayaking instructor in Colombia was also named Jason (or Yeison anyway)).

Halfway there…

… or not.

Looking better.

Back to the beach for some more practice.

In fairness this was Erin’s first crack at surfing. I had a brief go and didn’t do much better, bit out of practice it would seem, if we ever find some surf it could be interesting.

Day 265 – Surf: Fail

Still no surf this morning so we gave up and decided to head for Palawan. At least the last bus from Baler back to Manila was not quite as early as the one there. So we got on the bus scheduled to leave “around 9”, which actually left at about 8:30 and were back in Manila about 4pm.

So as you can imagine there is not much to report for today. When we finally got into Manila, we checked into our hotel, hit the ‘Green Belt’ for a meal and then went home to bed. Some days just aren’t that exciting! The most exciting part was watching Erin try and finish the ice cream sundae she had ordered for dessert, which was actually supposed to serve 4 (but the menu and attached pictures gave no indication of this!)

Manila

2010-08-05T23:39:00.001+10:00

Our flight was largely uneventful, except for the first few minutes after take off where the cabin began to fill with steam, a product of the overzealous air-conditioning crossing with the humid air filled cabin. Quite funny for us, who have seen it before, but not so for a few others who weren’t sure what was happening. They usually make an announcement when they know it will happen, but said nothing!

We chatted briefly with the tall English guy seated next to us in the exit row (as we were the tallest three on the flight!) and then made our way by cab to the ‘burbs’ of Manila to our hostel.

To our surprise our cab driver was friendly, didn’t try to rip us off and made decent time out to our not-so-easy to find hostel (and the hostel knows it, giving us 12 step directions to give to the cabby!)

To our second surprise at 11pm on a Tuesday evening, we were greeted very enthusiastically by another backpacker and then our host who had been waiting for us hoping we would go out with them! We had to wait for three others to arrive, who turned out to be the guy next to us and the two people in front of us on the flight – the only “white-ies” ! And then we were off!

Day 260 – Keeping strange hours

I’ve started a new day, as it was probably at least midnight by the time we had arrived at Quattro, our host Aldrich's bar of choice. All systems were go with a live band and lots of Filipino males to make me feel special. The biggest beer we have ever seen arrived shortly after, as did dinner and we ended up chatting and drinking until 6am (which was 7am Japan time!)

The sun was up again by the time we got home so we had a morning nap and headed out about 1pm to find water and 7-Eleven for slurpies! After our morning walk through the suburbs, we had decided that the only things Manila had in common with Japan were the heat, the crowds and better public transport than Melbourne – apart from that we were in culture shock!

Our palatial Red Carabao Hostel was set up in the 7 storey family home of Aldrich, who had been educated in California and convinced his parents to let him open it as his ‘business project’. He’s doing well, rated second on Hostelworld which is where we found him!

In the afternoon we decided to educate ourselves about the Philippines, it’s islands, where we shouldn't go due to travel warnings and what we wanted to do. We hit the local mall for some sustenance in the form of pizza, and took home some delicious looking fresh vegies and salmon burgers from the supermarket – fresh vegies were individually placed on a pedestal and cost about $10 each in Japan so we were craving them! More planning followed and we decided to head to Sabang Beach in Baler (Northern Luzon) for me to get my first surf lesson!

Our ride to the mall – a tricycle! Essentially a dirt bike with a covered side car welded on, very common transport in Manila and very scary! But at least you can’t see what’s coming.

Our street – one of the cleaner ones! Manila would have to be the most “full on” city we’ve been too. Sprawling, disorganised, noisy, grotty, crowded and intimidating with the amount of stares, smile-nods and winks I get!!

Osaka

2010-08-04T22:49:00.001+10:00

Day 258 – Parents avert your eyes

We spent almost the whole of today planning and about 3 hours in the post office trying to post home everything we didn’t need anymore. It is quite liberating to have such a light pack again!

We did have some Japanese fun later in the afternoon though. We had found ourselves in the middle of the “Love Hotel” district, so we went to check them out. We had found a funny website talking about the types that use a love hotel and suggesting that finding an ‘unusual’ room was part of the fun. The website guy had found all kinds of rooms including one with dodgem cars, underwater scene i.e. completely surrounded by fish tanks, subway train car, Winnie the Pooh and even Hello Kitty S&M!

The whole thing is anonymous so when you go in there is usually a reception room with a snap shot of each room on a board. The ones that are free are lit up and the ones that are taken are blacked out. More than half the rooms in every hotel were blacked out at 4pm on a Monday afternoon! We didn’t find anything interesting in the end, just normal looking hotel rooms, boring.

Had cool waterfalls outside but boring standard rooms inside.

The Puppy Hotel. This is wrong – puppies can be scarred for life too!

Most of the other hotels had even more than this blanked out!

Ha ha!

Just some diamante studded cars we passed on the way.

Some outfits for rent! Hopefully disinfected and dry cleaned…

Instead we headed to our last sushi train dinner and then drinks at a place called “Planet 3rd”, a really cool little bar, in the bottom of our building ; )

Matt enjoying his last sushi train.

Osaka at dusk.

Day 259 – Sayonara Japan! Tanoshikatta ne! (It was fun!)

Packing today was easy with half a pack! We looked at some last minute stuff for the Philippines (I don’t think we have ever been more under-prepared turning up to a country!) and decided to kill our last few hours in Japan finding funny mistranslated and sometimes just plain gibberish t-shirts. We found a few good ones, but given Japanese sizes are small, extra small and extra extra small, nothing that didn’t look like my little sister’s. Matt was fitting into a “medium” for the first time in his life and settled on a “short muzzles” t-shirt with bulldogs on the front, but didn’t end up liking any of the gibberish ones enough to actually wear [Matt - I really liked one, but it was just too wrong, I think I could have been arrested for wearing it in Australia].

Our last meal was going to be gyoza, not exactly Japanese, and not very filling so we called that breakfast and hopped into some all-you-can-eat sushi we found right at the last minute before we got on the plane for our 5 hour flight to Manila.

One the of the many monstrous and futuristic buildings around Osaka.

Love it! Spotted this guy with fans in his shirt waiting for our train to the airport. Only in Japan!

Tokyo II

2010-07-31T16:12:00.001+10:00

Day 256 – Robot seals, miniature cars and a big bang

This morning we had a sleep in and didn’t meet at the Parco Factory until 11am. The guide book made the Parco Factory sound like a free exhibition showing all kinds of design work. It turned out to be just one room, with the current exhibition being a collection of Rip Slyme, a Japanese pop band’s advertising, CD covers, tickets and merchandise. A TV station was there and asked to interview me (via Shouko) but I had to politely admit I knew nothing about Rip Slyme!!

There was a really cool bookshop in the same building though, so we managed entertain ourselves for a little while in there and Matt bought some more Murakami books.

The crossing outside Shibuya station – rivals Times Square!

On the way to Miraikan we had yummy stand up noodles at the station, something Shouko herself had never experienced as it was something generally only men did. We’re foreigners! What would we know?

Shouko’s part time job when she was at university was as a demonstrator at Miraikan and so as we purchased our tickets (from a vending machine of course!), she just needed to show her lifetime membership.

The Miraikan Building. Miraikan roughly translates to “future world”.

Miraikan is the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation and is broken into four main exhibition sections: Innovation and the Future, Information Science and Technology for Society, Life Science and the Earth Environment and Frontiers with hands on things and bilingual explanations for everything. We spent a long time in the ‘Frontiers’ bit as it was a lot of stuff we’d never seen before and there was probably a lot more in it given the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency offices were in the top floor of the building. It was a lot more ‘adult’ than Science World in Vancouver or Science Works at home too – I was struggling to understand parts of it!

Space toilet! There was an International Space Station Living Quarters replica you could go inside and see how an astronaut lives.

The inventor of the Post-It note got a guernsey!

And the guy who invented Velcro. The story goes that he was studying the burs stuck in his dogs fur and based the idea on that.

A representation about how the internet works…. I still think it’s freaky.

Me playing with Paro the baby robot seal. He responds to you petting him and calling his name and if you pinch him! After I had been playing with him a few minutes a little Japanese kid came up and punched him in the face! Paro didn’t like that!

Three hours later it was time for some ice cream, so we visited a nearby shopping mall and found us some cold stone. Across from the mall was a display with Toyota’s latest toys so we went in for a quick look. The future cars were quite disappointing, but if we ever get a second car, maybe we’ll get this:

We jumped back on the monorail and headed into Shimbashi which was on the way to where the fireworks would be showing later that night. We stopped in at one of those tiny restaurant/bars we had wanted to try and what seemed like an ancient husband and wife team served us up some delicious tapas style snacks to go with our beers. Matt and I just picked random characters on the wall and Shouko explained what they were and if she thought we would like them, ordered! We finally had some yakitori (skewered chicken), tai (sashimi), harumaki (light a toasted cheese spring roll), yakinasu (a marinated vegie), kiayako tofu (tofu blocks in a sauce), gindara tenaki (dried fish crackers??) and zousui (rice and fish broth – apparently the Japanese answer to chicken soup to cure a cold). Even Shouko was impressed with her “intuition” and announced she would be taking her friends back there.

The point of being back in Tokyo was to watch the Hanabi Taikai festival. A festival of fireworks held in the last weekend in July, just because Japanese people like fireworks. Many of the streets within view were closed off on one half where people had bought picnic blankets and eskies and were set up from around midday ready for the 7.30pm fireworks. The other half of the road was still blocked off from traffic, but open to walk and so you could walk a loop around the city and watch the fireworks as you go. As we didn’t want to sit and wait all day, we took the walk option which was a nice way to see the fireworks from different angels.

At the end of the fireworks we had to part ways with Shouko. We were off to Osaka in the morning and she needed a much deserved day off to prepare for her week ahead. Thanks again Shouko for spending time with us!!!

As our hotel was on the same line as Tokyo Disney we had been watching many people coming back on the train with Mickey ears and show bags. We could help but notice the vast majority were adults and not kids! Maybe next time.

Day 257 – Kids come in handy sometimes

This morning we headed over to Harajuku and very trendy area to visit the Design Festa Gallery and experience the last of the Japanese shopping crowds. It was amazing how many people were trying to fit down one little laneway, but given many of the shops were empty, I think it was more about being seen in that street rather than actually shopping there!

Apart from the gallery, (which was interesting, but quite small and probably not worth the hassle of getting over there), nearby was an organic all you can eat restaurant and we were dying for some vegetables. We had to wait in line with the hoards of others also recognising that Y1,260 is a good deal when one apple on a pedestal costs Y7,500 in the supermarket. The wait was made longer by the fact that a children’s centre was attached and so if you rocked up with a kid, you jumped to the front of the queue!

Our last Skinkansen ride over to Osaka was uneventful and we checked into our business hotel which was in the funky suburb of Shinsaibashi. We decided to try something different for dinner…. not! We had okonomiaki, the only thing different was it was a fancier one.

Kamakura

2010-07-31T16:09:00.002+10:00

Day 255 - Just a great day out.

This morning we agreed to be on the 10.11 train from Kashiwa as Shouko would be able to get on at the next stop down the line and we could head out to the Kamakura area together. It was a great plan until we arrived at the station to find that there were two 10.11 trains, one being an express. We decided to go with the stopping all stations, as the express wouldn’t stop at Shouko’s station.

When Shouko didn’t get on the next stop up we realised we had no back up plan! We decided to get off at the next station that both trains would stop at and call. As we stepped out of the carriage, Shouko was about to step on!! So we all quickly jumped back on the train we were on. She had realised what had happened and also got off at the next station that both stopped at to change. It was very lucky because we hadn’t even looked up where we were going to meet there!

By the time we arrived in Kamakura, it was lunchtime and stinking hot. We took a walk up the main road Wakamiya-oji toward Enkaku-ji temple and stopped in at a Japanese curry house in a little alleyway on the way. Japanese curry wasn’t very hot, but tasty just the same, and added to our variety of food which has mainly consisted of sushi train and okonomiaki up to date.

Essentially, cross where ever you want!

Enkaku-ji is a Rinzai Zen temple founded in 1282 and was a place where monks prayed for soldiers who lost their lives defending Japan against the Kublai Khan. There was a small museum attached, but not even our translator could read the exhibits as the script was scribbley and written in ‘old language’, so we just had to admire the artefacts and layered kimonos instead.

Tubs of sake donated to the temple by local businessman.

On the way out I picked up an “Omikuji” (fortune card) and it was not a bad one, so I didn’t need to go back into the temple and tie it in a special area and pray for a better one.

A couple reads their Omikuji to each other.

After the Enkaku-ji we walked back toward the station on a parallel street through Komachi-dori, known for its shopping. Matt’s must-have item from Japan was a puzzle box, mine was a proper tea set and up until now I was losing hope of finding one I wanted in my price range. Still nothing in this strip, so we headed for the train to Kotoku-in temple to see Japan’s second largest Daibutsu (Buddha). The biggest was in Nara, which we had already seen.

Lucky for me, there was a little pottery shop on the path up to the temple and I finally found a cute little tea set! (Sorry forgot to take a photo before sending it home).

Sitting in the open air of the gardens, Daibutsu didn’t let us down and he was very impressive. He used to be sheltered in a giant wooden house but…

I thought it was very Zen that he would just sit there while a Tsunami washed away his house.

Some terrapins playing in a nearby pond.

On the way back to the train we stopped in at Hase Dera which was also very rewarding with views out to the beach, a beautiful garden and a funny little cave which had different small chambers where you could donate money in an honesty box, take a small figurine or plaque, write on the bottom your wish and then line it up with the others.

As the beach was close by, we took a short stroll down to sticky beak. I think we’ll save our swimming for the Philippines.

Hearing that I, in particular, had a bit of an obsession with okonomiaki, Shouko took us to a street full of okonomiaki restaurants! When I asked if she had a favourite she replied that she had never been to this street before, so when I asked her how we pick one (out of at least 30!) she replied “intuition”! Intuition basically involved looking through the window to see what we thought. Shouko’s intuition did good! The place was full, funky and delicious!

Kashiwa

2010-07-30T15:40:00.000+10:00

Tonight we had decided to try something different accommodation wise and checked ourselves into Tokyo Kiba Hotel, a capsule hotel! As we hadn’t stayed in one before, the lady at the front desk kindly showed us the ropes, all of which were mostly the same except that instead of having a room we were both in the dog house!

We only had to venture across the road to the nearest sushi train and spent the remainder of the night watching movies in our box and watching as mostly other travellers, and not suited businessmen as previously thought, trickled in and crawled into their box. It was at good option as at Y4,000, that’s a bit under half the cost of a standard business hotel.

Day 254 – Sleepy shopping and photo booth fun

This morning we checked out of our box and moved our things out to Kashiwa, about an hour on the train north east of Tokyo, to near where Shouko was living with her brother. She had managed to get two days off work to hang out with us, but not easily. The poor thing had been at work until 5am prior to meeting us!

We met in the lobby of our hotel at midday and headed out to Shouko’s local shopping mall for a look around and some lunch. After a couple of hours walking around Shouko looked knackered, so we suggested she went home for some more sleep and we met up later for dinner.

Vegemite was $11 in Canada, here a more reasonable $5.

At about 8pm we met up again for sushi train and finally were able to order some of the more interesting stuff you have to order specially that doesn’t come on the ordinary train.

Each one of those white strips is a fishy!

Fish roe marinated in something lemony.

After sushi train we went for a stroll around the area and had some photo fun in one of those funky photo booths were there’s a full body blue screen, a range of scenery and you can graffiti on the pictures before they are printed! What happened to ordinary old black and white and pulling fun faces? After that we wandered into a $2 shop type place that must have sold absolutely everything imaginable. It was called something that sounded like “Donkey” and is apparently a bit of an institution. Tired again, we all hit the sack reasonable early, ready for our day trip tomorrow.

Hakone

2010-07-29T19:02:00.000+10:00

From Shin-Fuji we caught the Shinkansen to Odawara, as close as we could get to the Hakone region using our Japan Rail Passes. From there we bought yet another pricey ticket called the Hakone Free Pass which let us ride the variety of trains, buses, gondolas, funiculars and ships that traverse the area. As we were tired from the morning’s mountain climbing and keen to get to our hotel we opted for a relatively tame train and bus combination.

We’d had even more trouble than usual finding reasonably priced accommodation and had ended up at the Hakone Palace Hotel, an aging hulk of a hotel perched on a hilltop overlooking the main lake. Our room was spacious but dated, to get internet access I had to go borrow a modem from the front desk!

Once we’d settled in we caught the bus a couple of stops down into the nearby town of Togendai on the lake shore. There were a couple of restaurants but they were all a bit overpriced, so we hopped back on the bus to explore further up the road. In Sengoku we went into a fancy bottle shop looking for a miso beer I’d seen in Nagoya, instead we came out with a chocolate beer, it was interesting but not fantastic.

Eventually we found ourselves some dinner so we could go back to the hotel and collapse exhausted.

The Hakone regions is renowned for its views of Mt Fuji, this is all we saw for three days, clouds.

Day 252 – Finally time some Matt shopping time

This morning we caught a pirate ship across the lake to do some sightseeing and shop for a puzzle box. You think I’m kidding:

OK, so maybe it’s a mock pirate ship, there’s a fleet of three that ferry passengers around the lake, like so many things in Japan, strange.

Ever since briefly playing with a family friend’s puzzle box many years ago I’ve wanted one of my own. As Hakone is the home of the himitsu (Japanese puzzle box) I got to do some shopping while Erin busied herself admiring the other nice parquetry work.

We hadn’t been able to find another vending machine selling the huge Asahi tins, so I had to settle for grabbing a picture with the range in a bottle shop. The littlest member of the family is 135ml, the largest 2L!

Mmmm, “Cookies and Cream” maybe?

The weather really hadn’t improved and it was becoming clear the Mt Fuji was not going to miraculously come into view. So we got ourselves some noodles from 7-Eleven to cook up in our hotel room and headed back across the lake for another early night.

Day 253 – Norimono (modes of transport)

So this morning it was back on the bus and down to the gondola station, from where we took two gondolas over the mountain range behind the hotel. Then it was down a funicular, onto a switchback train and eventually onto the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. Along the way we stopped for gyoza, Erin’s “Ebi” (prawn) were especially delicious, my mouth is watering just typing this!

One last look back from the gondola at where Mt Fuji should be.

The schematic on the inside of the gondola was about as close as we came to seeing it.

The sulphur mine beneath the gondola.

Mount Fuji

2010-07-26T17:43:00.000+10:00

Day 250 – Going Up

The streets of Nagoya were nearly deserted as we made our way to an early morning Shinkansen toward Fuji. At Shin-Fuji Station we grabbed a couple of bento boxes, some snacks and stocked up on water before getting on the bus that would take us to the Mt Fuji – Fujinomiya Fifth Station, as far up Mt Fuji as you can get using public transportation.

There are four main routes up Mt Fuji, each departing from a fifth station on a different side of the mountain, we’d opted to start from Fujinomiya because it was the easiest to access from Nagoya and the shortest route to the summit. As the bus (just a normal city bus!) wound it’s way up the side of Mt Fuji we go our first taste of just how popular this place is. Traffic jams delayed our bus by more than an hour, while all the people who had climbed Mt Fuji overnight on the Saturday tried to get back down.

We had a brief moment of panic at the fifth station when we were told that there wasn’t actually anywhere to store all our excess gear (contrary to what the tourist lady at Shin-Fuji Station had told us and some others on the bus), but thankfully the confusion was resolved and we were able to store about 15kg of extra stuff.

With that out of the way we were ready to start climbing. It was 1pm and the hut we were staying in expected you to be there by 6pm or they were entitled to give your space away. From guidebooks and the internet we had figured on it taking four and a half hours plus a stop for lunch, so it was going to be close.

As much as we had seen of Mt Fuji to date.

400m of altitude gain done, 1,000m more to go.

By the Eighth Station we were consistently faster than the recommended times, so we decided it was time for our bento boxes. As you can see the view had not improved. (Also note that the beer next Erin belongs to someone else, the Japanese sure love the stuff.)

Climbing Mt Fuji is a family affair for many, the youngest of these kids must have been about 8 years old. We saw many children even younger than this, not to mention many people who could have been grandparents and few that could have been great-grandparents.

Coins stuck in a wooden post for luck.

The Tenth Station, otherwise known as the top. The building directly behind me is a shrine, to one side is a Japan Post Office (only open mornings in July and August) and straight ahead of me out of the picture is our mountain hut.

In the end we were there by 5pm, which made us amongst the first to arrive. By my left foot is where Erin would sleep and by my right foot where I would sleep. About another 10 people would share the space you can see in the photo and about 40 in total in the room, cosy.

When dinner came around it turned out that there was no vegetarian option, it was beef, beef or beef. So Erin had a tiny bowl of soup and some of my rice for dinner. At 7pm it was lights out and about half an hour later a fantastic storm rolled through, threatening to blow the hut clean off the mountain top. It didn’t but it did hail heavily enough to leave the top of the mountain looking almost snow covered come morning.

Day 251 – Going Down

Lights on was 4am, though they jumped the gun a bit and turned them on at 3 something, a little over the top considering we were already at the top of the mountain and didn’t really need to walk far for our sunrise views.

Just some of our many hundreds of friends assembling near the summit before sunrise.

It was very cold, the first time we’d been cold since trying to go swimming in Canada!

Looking across the crater to the abandoned weather station on the summit proper (3,776m).

What a circus! In a couple of the buildings in the middle there are souvenir stores! Something like 200,000 people climb Mt Fuji each year, the majority in the two month ‘open’ season, making it far from a wilderness experience.

On the slightly more peaceful crater circuit walk.

The mountain’s shadow, we’re becoming fond of these (Mount Kinabalu and Tajumulco).

Coming down was unsurprisingly quicker than going up, but we were more in tune with the suggested times, I guess our muscles are more resilient than our joints.

One of several primary school groups we passed on the way down. I can’t imagine this happening in Australia somehow…

In the end we were back at the Fifth Station before the first bus, thankfully there was no traffic this time and we were back at Shin-Fuji Station well before lunch and ready to start our day!

Nagahama & Hikone

2010-07-25T15:50:00.000+10:00

Day 249 – It’s OK, women can eat “Men’s Pocky”

Before we left the hotel we asked the hotel receptionist to book out next night’s hotel accommodation for us. We told her it was at Mt Fuji and gave her the telephone number to ring. After a lot of oohing and ahhing she hung up the phone and asked if we knew the place we asked her to book was on top of Mt Fuji. We explained that we did know and assured her that we were quite capable of getting from Nagoya to the top of Mt Fuji in a day. She didn’t seem convinced, but she rang back and made the reservation for us all the same.

First stop on today’s day trip was Nagahama, known for it’s artistic glass industry and old style shop houses around Kurokabe Square. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the shops before having a delicious chicken and raw egg curry at a little restaurant on the main street.

Me sampling some rice crackers, shortly before buying some rice crackers and quickly eating a whole packet of rice crackers (good breakfasts are hard to come by in Japan).

Some of the arty glass stuff.

After lunch we got back on the train and headed to Hikone, famous for its 16th Century castle which is considered (apparently) to be one of the finest in Japan. On the train we accidentally befriended a rather strange man who kept unsubtly taking photos of Erin with his mobile phone, weird. Thankfully he got off after only a few stops.

When we got off the train it was the middle of the afternoon, stinking hot, with not a cloud in the sky. We hopped from shade patch to shade patch as we headed toward the castle. The first thing we had to do when we got there was climb a lengthy set of stairs (thankfully in the shade) and then cross a drawbridge (cool!).

In the garden there was a guy playing a lute type thing, he was quite good.

Genkyu-en, the nice gardens to one side of the palace.

On the way back to Nagoya we were in a bit of a hurry to change trains at Maibara (due to a late train, my goodness such things don’t happen in Japan do they?) and accidentally ended up on the Shinkansen heading the opposite direction back toward Kyoto. Luckily Erin realised at the last minute and we jumped off just before it pulled away from the platform. It did however mean that we had missed our train going the other direction.

Erin used the time waiting for the next train to do some blogging and sample “Men’s Pocky”. Shouko later assured us that it was acceptable for women to eat Men’s Pocky, so Erin had needlessly made me go to the convenience store counter to buy it for her!

For dinner we headed back to the same Okonomiyaki restaurant, this time opting for the two person set menu, which included an interesting concoction called Monjyayaki. Essentially they cover the hotplate in finely chopped veggies and seafood, and when they are cooked pour this soupy stuff over it and mix it all together. To eat it you use a little spatula to scoop up the veggies and seafood which are now covered in this slightly thickened soup. Yum. The set menu ended with some green tea ice cream. Yum again.

Mikimoto Pearl Island

2010-07-24T21:58:00.000+10:00

Day 248 – Pearly whites

We liked our little hotel in Nagoya, so we decided to stay another two nights and use it as a base for the next two days day trips, rather than lugging our stuff about in the heat. So today we took the train to Toba, about 2 hours south east of Nagoya on the coast and walked across the footbridge to Mikimoto Pearl Island.

The wacky looking ferry near the footbridge.

Mikimoto Pearl Island is known as the birthplace of pearl cultivation and given I already have the pleasure of owning a pair of Japanese pearls, the main interest in coming here was to see the process of how a pearl is cultivated and to see the Ama divers in action.

We headed over to the diving demonstration area as soon as we arrived and watched as the lady divers called “Ama” dived down to pluck pearl oysters, a tradition practiced for over 2,000 years. Wearing only a white loincloth and mask, the Ama divers originally fished for seaweed, shellfish and lobsters and occasionally found a pearl oyster. Now pearls are big business and there are hundreds of racks of cultivated shells around the waters of this area and other areas with the right water temperature. Whilst professional divers today wear a bit more than a see through white cloth (that was just for the tourists), they still practice free diving - without scuba gear.

After the diving we had a look around the dazzling (and some very old) creations in the Pearl Museum and I got to be Queen for five minutes and have all the Japanese ladies standing around coo-ing at me, trying on a crown they had on display hosting 121 diamonds and 63 pearls.

There were also very informative displays about how a pearl is cultivated and a video showing the process where the shell is pried open, an incision is made into the mother shell, a piece of membrane is placed inside the incision with the nucleus to get the process going, before the shell is closed back up and placed back in the sea for two years before it is ready to be harvested. It was quite a delicate process, with only 50% of the mother shells actually surviving the process and only three-fifths of them producing a viable pearl. You forget it’s a living process! There was also information about other regions that produce black pearls and how mother-of-pearl is used.

All the bits needed to start cultivating a pearl. The better you are at it the more you get paid as the better survival rate your shells have, so each rack that is completed is labelled with the operator’s name for future bonuses.

Matt dared me to play dress-ups!

Mother of pearl buttons.

Back in Nagoya we asked the front desk where the nearest Okonomiyaki restaurant was and walked only a few blocks to deliciousness on a grill. Our waitress was much friendlier than the last guy and was more than happy to oblige when we explained we weren’t confident to cook our own!

Some rice paddy scenery from the train ride home.

Nagoya

2010-07-23T18:21:00.000+10:00

Day 247 – Chubbie men wear nappies

General admission tickets to the Sumo tournament are only sold on the day and we’d heard that they could be difficult to get, so we were up early to walk across Nagoya to the stadium to get in line. There was a line when we got there but it wasn’t huge, so we soon had our tickets. Excited we headed inside to wait for the bouts to begin. They start quite early in the morning, around 8:30am, with the junior divisions. At this stage the stadium was still quite empty (the vast majority of the seat are reserved, so there is no need to turn up early to get a good spot). We watched the juniors for about an hour before deciding that eight hours of sumo was going to be too much. So we walked back to our hotel for a morning nap.

Empty stadium early in the day.

After our nap and a quick noodle lunch we were back in our seats watching the bigger boys battle it out. We had a few surprises, the bouts only go for less than a minute in general, and they only fight one bout per day (the tournament goes for 12 days), so each fight is over much quicker than we thought. This means that much of the time is taken up with rituals, feet stomping, salt slinging and false starts to put the other wrestler off his game. The other surprise was that quite often the little guy (relatively speaking of course) would come out victorious, with the really big guys seeming to be more prone to lose their balance.

Waiting their turn by the side of the ring.

These moves are performed before each bout to symbolise that the wrestler has come to fight in good faith.

The ring is elevated which made for some spectacular falls.

I know whose shoes (or bare feet) I wouldn’t want to be in right now.

Mid-afternoon the Juryo division (2nd division) started and the crowd got a bit livelier, by the the time the Makuuchi division (1st) came on late in the afternoon the stadium was much fuller and the cheering more enthusiastic, especially for some obvious crowd favourites.

Before the beginning of the upper division matches a ‘dohyo-iri’ (entering the ring) ceremony is performed. The wrestlers enter the stadium wearing ceremonial ‘kesho-mawashi’ embroidered silk aprons worth up to A$10,000.

Unsuccessfully trying to interpret the form guide, which is of course written in Japanese as Erin and I bet with each other on each match (she was 6 up in the end).

We can’t possibly imagine how somebody in McDonalds’ marketing department though this was a good idea!

When the sumo was over we headed for another sushi train, it’s fair to say we’re becoming addicted. This restaurant belonged to same chain as the one in Kyoto with the ‘shinkansen’, so I once again amused myself ordering dishes off the touch-screen menu so that the special train would come and deliver them to our table.

Koyasan

2010-07-22T17:50:00.000+10:00

Day 245 – OK, no meat, but no garlic?

Breakfast at Super Hotel consisted of a whole heap of fairly unidentifiable bread products, tasty anyway. From there it was back on the train, then another train, then a funicular and finally a bus, to get us to the hilltop town of Koyasan, most famous for it’s monastery lodgings and temples.

Heading up the funicular, the aisle is a staircase.

After heading into the tourist office to secure lodgings for the night at one of the local temples (just turning up to your accommodation in Japan without a reservation is not the done thing!), we deposited Erin’s backpack in a locker and went for a walk around Danjo Garan and up to the Daimon Gate.

Dai-to (Great Pagoda), which houses the “Cosmic Buddha”.

Sai-to, the Western Pagoda, nestled in amongst the woods.

Check-in at our temple, Haryo-in, was strictly between 4pm and 5pm, though we observed other people who had no problems arriving a bit late. We were shown to our room by a monk who had substantial difficulty walking and could only use one arm. We later learned that he had suffered a stroke at a young age, doctors had told him he would not walk, but through discipline and faith living in the temple he had learned to walk again. Our room was fairly simple with tatami mats on the floor, our futons tucked into a wardrobe, a small table with tea in the centre of the room and a shrine in the corner.

At 5:30pm dinner was served and Erin was especially excited to try ‘shojin ryori’, which is Buddhist vegetarian food with no meat, fish, onions or garlic. We were seated on the floor at little individual tables and we and the other guests nervously looked at each other to work out what manners were required of us. It turned out not to be too difficult and the food was wholesome but a little bland (no wonder, we put garlic in everything!).

Lights out was at 10pm, like being on school camp. So after dinner, deciding there was probably not much night life in a town full of monasteries, we just hung out until bedtime.

Day 246 – Shrine fashion

Despite our adversity to early starts we got up in time to attend the morning Buddhist prayer. It went for about half an hour and afterwards one of the monks (the same one who had looked after us yesterday) told us a bit about the ceremony and his own personal background.

The temple’s shrine, where the morning prayer was held.

After breakfast, a similar affair to dinner, we headed back down to store Erin’s pack before heading to Oku-no-in, a cemetery temple, for a walk around. The grounds are quite extensive, and very majestic with towering trees and an array of moss covered shrines.

Some shrine fashion that Erin took quite a liking to.

In the ‘no photo’ section of the grounds there is Miroku-ishi, a small wooden building housing a sacred stone. Pilgrims reach through holes in the side of the building to try and lift the stone onto a small ledge. It is said that the heavier the stone the heavier your sins. Needless to say I could easily lift the stone onto the ledge, whilst Erin couldn’t (nothing to do with our respective arm strength of course!).

From Koyasan it was back onto the public transport merry-go-round for the bus, funicular, five trains and the shinkansen to Nagoya where one of Japan’s four yearly Sumo competitions was in full swing.

The train map for the local Japan Rail lines, this is only one company and is fairly simple in comparison to some other areas of Japan!

For dinner we headed to a chain of izakayas (Japanese pubs) called Yamachan. Erin’s tofu salad was delicious but the rest of our food came in disappointingly small proportions. On the wall they had a ‘Miso Beer’ advertised, but it was A$10 a bottle, so I decided to hunt it down in a bottle shop later. [Two weeks later still no luck :-( ]

Nara

2010-07-20T17:01:00.000+10:00

Day 244 – Deer and dearest

Shouko had told us that one of her favourite sites in Kyoto was Heian Jingu, so we headed out there in the morning. The sun was already out in full force, but the gardens provided a bit of shade so it wasn’t too bad. Coincidentally we bumped into Jane and Per again, they were on the bridge over the lake feeding the fish and terrapins.

Massive Torii Gate at the entrance to the temple.

Another really helpful sign.

After swinging back by Tommy Rich Inn to collect our things we headed for the train to Nara. I’d booked a hotel right next to the station, but we were there half an hour before check-in time so we browsed in the local bookshop for a little while. When we got to the front desk the guy informed us that we had in fact booked into a different ‘Super Hotel’ 20 minutes walk away. This came as a bit of a rude surprise, especially given the heat. So we grumpily trudged away from all the tourist attractions towards our hotel. When we got there they had given us two adjoining rooms, strange, but ultimately quite spacious!

We now faced a twenty minute walk back into town to where the self-guided walking tour we had planned to do started. The first sight to greet us on the walk was a city park full of deer. It turned out that they not only occupied this particular park, but practically rule the city, they’re everywhere and quite tame.

Watch out in case they ‘bite’, ‘kick’, ‘butt’ or ‘knock down’!

Deer and dearest.

They do keep the lawns looking nice.

Next stop was Todaiji, the world’s largest wooden building, which houses Japan’s largest Buddha statue. The building was arguably more impressive than the statue.

“This big.”

On the hill behind Todaiji was Kasuga Taisha, a temple complex surrounded by thousands of lanterns. Unfortunately we were here at the wrong time of year to see them all lit, but as it was late in the day the place was pretty quiet and weather a little more moderate.

All walked out we found ourselves an Okonomiyaki Restaurant and collapsed down for a beer. The rather glum waiter cooked our meals for us on the hotplates on our table, (rightly) not trusting us to do it ourselves and not burn them, make a huge mess or both.

A hard earned thirst deserves a nice cold beer and the best cold beer is… well whatever comes in a glass bigger than your head really.

On the way home we stopped to test a beer vending machine, had to buy two or three just to be sure it was working properly, all good.

Outside our hotel all the local birds had settled onto the power lines to roost, they were making quite a racket but looked good framed against dusk.

Kyoto

2010-07-20T00:41:00.000+10:00

We arrived in Kyoto only 3.5 hours after leaving Tokyo (the two cities are 500km apart, we love the shinkansen!) to the pouring rain. Completely unprepared, we were soaking by the time we made it to the hotel only a few blocks away. The station was in the middle of the Gion Matsuri festival that we had come for, so the crowds and umbrellas everywhere made it slow going.

Once we had settled into our expensive little hotel room, we hit the streets to soak up some of the atmosphere and try out some of the food stalls that had lined the main street. The place was packed, with kids in dress-ups and ladies and men in their traditional Kimono and hair all done. The floats for the main parade to be held in two days were set up for viewing in the back streets, so we visited a few of those as well, and Matt found a vending machine with a 1 litre Asahi can inside, although it was switched off, so we had to settle for a “bullet” (500ml) each instead to wander the streets with.

Twin mini Geishas sharing a corn on the cob.

Fishing for a pet.

More pets!

Lanterns adorning one of the floats.

Day 241 – Gold, silver and a lot of red.

With Nishiki Market so close to our hotel, we decided here was our best bet for breakfast. We found some yummy flavoured rice cakes and soy ice cream amongst other little treats and snacked on our way to the train. As these treats weren’t enough and it was nearing lunchtime, we got a bento box each at the station too.

Our bento box – pretty ordinary for $10. We’ve learnt that if we want cheap and on-the-fly we go soba noodles and save the sushi for the fresh fresh sushi train!

The heat was already stifling by the time we got off the train near Fushimi-Inari Taisha, an 8th century shrine complex dedicated to the gods of rice and sake.

We made like Japanese and used our umbrellas for rain and sun!

Some of the pathways were lined with hundreds of red Torii gates.

There were dozens of stone foxes around the complex as well. The fox is considered the messenger of the Inari, the god of rice and harvest (and now business) and the Japanese see the fox as a mysterious figure capable of possessing humans.

We jumped back on the train and headed to Kinkaku-ji next, the famed Golden Pavilion.

Originally built in 1397, the pavilion was burnt to the ground in 1950 by a young monk obsessed with it and in 1955 an exact copy was rebuilt, but completely covered in gold foil unlike the original which was only gold at the top.

We have often seen figures in gardens surrounded with silver coins, thrown to grant wishes. In any other country but here, those coins would have been cleaned up!

Onto a bus now, we went to visit a collection of Zen temples called Daitoku-ji, famous for its beautiful stone raked gardens. As we arrived the skies opened up for their 4.30pm downpour and after a brief wander, we decided to head somewhere indoors.

That somewhere was the 7 storey Handicraft Centre selling all kinds of Japanese “omiyage” (souvenirs).

Check out the luxury on the buses!

Dying for sushi we hit the Musashi Sushi Train for dinner. At 137 yen (less than $2) per plate we couldn’t go wrong!

Day 242 – Gion Matsuri

This morning we hit the Nishiki Market again, this time finishing our snacks with a lemon shaved ice drink. As the drink was piled high, we sat down to drink it, and with the influx of local tourists for the parade, found ourselves to be the source of much amusement, with a few either secretly and not so secretly taking photos of us. When we first arrived in Kyoto, a guy had yelled out to us and pointed us out to his friends shrieking “Burad Pitt! Burad Pitt” at Matt. So I guess word had got out! (And does that make me Angelina? I hope not!)

We managed to get a front row spot for the parade fairly easily and watched as each of the floats went by, reading about them in an English colour brochure a kind man in the Handicraft Centre had given me. The floats are essentially portable shrines to the dead, paraded through the streets of Gion since 869. The festival started after a plague swept through and so the shrines were made to honour the dead and ward off the curse of Guzu Tenno. There were 32 floats playing traditional Gion bayashi songs, with puppets and carpets hanging off the sides and Noh actors dancing around and community members pulling and pushing along the floats that are rolled on huge wooden wagon wheels. People walk around holding Chimaki, cogon grass wrapped rice cakes, to ward off disease.

This float is called the Tsuki Boko. Our brochures tells us: The crescent on the top of the pole represents the moon, while the “Tennoza” sacred tree is dedicated to the Shinto deity “Tsukiyomi No Mikoto”. This float is filled with precious artworks such as the floral design on the ceiling which was painted by Okyo Maruyama (1733 – 1735) and the carved gables by Jinjoro Hidari, a famous 17th century sculptor. The medallion carpet at the front of the float was made in India in the 17th century but today’s carpet is a brand new on made with the same design.

When the floats all started to look the same, we set out to find some lunch. Not being very successful, we referred to our guide which suggested a place, which most locals seemed to like too as the line was LONG. We decided to wait, taking this as a good sign, and not wanting to wander any longer.

As we were waiting, a couple of familiar faces joined the queue. This morning I had stopped to help a couple struggling to find out from our non-English speaking host where the parades would be held today for the Gion Matsuri. So we joined forces and made a party of four, deciding that we couldn’t leave them on the steps outside in the heat while we sat, the two of us, at a table for four. Jane (from London) and Per (Swedish, but living in London) were in Japan for a whirlwind trip following the attendance of a wedding in Yokohama. We hit it off and decided to meet for dinner.

With it being so so hot and us being so so tired, we decided to skip the planned afternoon walking tour and instead took a bus out to the Western suburbs to the Arashiyama area to see the Tenryu-ji, one of the major temples of the Rinzai school of Zen and in particular, the adjacent bamboo grove. Wandering through the bamboo forest was very majestical and different to any other forest we’ve been in.

The gardens of Tenryu-ji.

I want a mini-stream in my garden!

The bamboo grove.

On the way back to the train wandered back along the Hozu River and through the neighbourhood with another Asahi.

If my Japanese was better we could go into one of these little places to eat/drink : (

We saw this little guy walking back to our hotel. Matt had a go at me because up until now I have been a bit nervous about speaking Japanese, but had a great conversation with the puppy!

That night we went out to all you can eat (and drink) with Per and Jane at one of the hotels on the main road in Gion and played a little (pissy) pachinko (Japanese pinball) on the way back to our hotel with our Shochu (like sake).

Me, asking the Pachinko machine what the hell I was supposed to do. I successfully turned 1,000 yen into about 400 yen in the space of 10 minutes, but it was fun all the same! Gambling is actually illegal in Japan so when you have had enough, you take your little golden balls to the counter, exchange these for a token, which you then take either next door or down the street to cash in!

Day 243 – Oo-iskey on the lock!

Today we met up with Per and Jane again and all (a little hung over) went for a walk in the Higashiyama area.

First we headed up Chawan-zaka (Teapot Lane) and had a look at some of the pottery and other wares for sale leading up to our first stop at Kiyomizu-dera, one of the most famous Buddhist temple complexes in Japan. As we headed in the gate, some students approached us asked if they could guide us through the temples and practice their English Of course this made the experience much better as we could actually understand the meanings and customs in the temple.

Like this one: You take water from this little fountain and wash each hand with a little cup on the end of a long stick before you enter.

If a lady can lift the small cast iron pole with one hand it means she can control her husband and her household well. Of course I could lift it! (But it wasn’t easy).

One of the main shrines to Buddha.

Overlooking the ‘mainstage’ and back over Kyoto. As this temple is high up on stilts with a waterfall and stream running through underneath, many business men came to commit suicide here but apparently many were unsuccessful because of all the trees breaking their fall.

Our hosts, who come here every weekend from Osaka to practice English. This was the last trip for Taki on the right as she was heading off on exchange to Canada.

Just some crazy stuff we see about the place!

After we shouted the girls an ice-cream for their efforts, we headed back down the hill to Sannen-zaka, a more traditional streetscape lined with wooden houses and more shops and restaurants and then to Ishibei-koji, a very picturesque cobbled alley. We skipped past Kodai-ji (another temple) and onto Maruyama-koen and park which is famous for Cherry blossum viewing when they are in season (around April) and then into the streets of Gion, the seedy district, although just as interesting during the day (Our favourite club name was “Club Laid”, no mucking around there!)

Along the road, but on purpose, we came across a place that will show visitors Japanese Tea Ceremony and explain the customs in English. Both Jane and I had wanted to go, but neither of our boys were interested, so we sent the boys off to a bookshop and in we went.

The tradition of full tea ceremony usually involves a full meal as well, but this demonstration was just about the making and presentation of “matcha”, powdered green tea. There was a lot more to it than I thought and it was very relaxing to watch. It is influenced by Zen Buddhism and so each movement was performed in a very particular way – drinking the tea was really secondary to the discipline needed and the relaxation achieve by performing tea ceremony.

On the way back to the hotel we came across this gorgeous little boy (below) in the window of one of the pet shops and Jane politely obliged as I cooed at him through the window. He has the same markings as Evie! If I had a spare $2,400 and room in my backpack he would have had a home!

Back at the hotel we had a nap and caught up on some blogging before heading out to Sushi train with Per and Jane. This sushi train was even better at only 105 yen per plate and you could make special orders by Shinkansen which arrived right to the table! Matt was beside himself with excitement.

After Sushi train we headed to a Japanese style whiskey bar. The boys tried everything on the menu, so it was a go hard and go home kind of night.

Brad orange highball on the lock prease. The turmeric was surprisingly nice, but pink grape(fruit) was my favourite.

Tokyo

2010-07-16T23:42:00.000+10:00

Day 236 AND Day 237 – From blow-up mat to Tatami mat

This morning we woke up around 5.30am, packed up the tent, hopped in the car (which thankfully started first go) and were off for our 8am flight to Tokyo. We were there with plenty of time to spare, but by the time check-in took forever and then security took for ever, we were one of the last they let on the flight. Plenty of people missed theirs!

Getting this flight was quite silly really as when we were booking our flights it turned out to be $300USD cheaper each if we flew from Seattle to Tokyo via Vancouver on the same plane as direct from Vancouver to Tokyo! So of course we took the cheaper option and were lucky that Elliott and Kat were happy to make a weekend of it, otherwise it would have be $25 and 4 hours on the bus. Cheaper, but not as fun! We called up to try and cancel the first leg, given we were in Vancouver anyway and Air Canada told us that if we didn’t get on in Seattle, they would cancel the whole ticket! How silly!

So anyways, our first flight was short and sweet back to Vancouver airport to sit around for 4 hours, but it ended up working out well as we had some time to book some accommodation in Japan and the exact window of time we needed to watch the World Cup Final. They even held the plane by about 3 minutes so that us and a hand full of others could watch the dying minutes!

Of course out of all the seats on the plane, I got the one with the broken headphone jack, but we were quickly re-seated and ready to begin our task of watching as many movies as possible in the next 9 hours. We did well. It was only a problem once we had arrived in Tokyo and with the heat and humidity punching us in the face, it was quite a struggle to stay awake on the two trains and 90 minutes from Narita Airport into Tokyo.

Once we had arrived in Tokyo and navigated to our executive box at the Dormy Inn Hatchobori Hotel, we hit the streets for some food and to stay awake just that little bit longer so that we could go to bed at a normal bedtime. We managed to find a tiny 8 seater place, the first place we saw with at least a couple of English translations, ordered a few random things, exchanged smiles and head-bobs with the chef who threw in a tough dried piece of fish snack to try at the end of our meal and then we were on our way to fall into our futon – 25 hours after we had woken up in a tent in Seattle! We had also lost a day during that time.

Day 238 – Finding food in Japan.

This morning we got up and took a walk to Ginza, one of the famous shopping districts, although at 9am everything was still closed! We wandered into a building and downstairs to what looked like a food court. A little old Japanese lady came up to us and in perfect English said “Good morning, what are you looking for?” We explained that we just wanted some breakfast, and straight away her reply was “Why, you passed McDonalds just upstairs!” We gave a little chuckle and explained that we wanted Japanese breakfast (but didn’t bother to add that neither of us has actually ever had a McDonalds hamburger!). She spoke to her friend for a minute and I believe they were conferring as to where would be open at this hour. She turned back to us and explained that everything near here opened at 11am so we were out of luck. So we trudged back up the stairs and out onto the street.

Ginza, our first glimpses of Japan in the daylight.

It was almost another hour before we found a little back street Ramen noodle place. Delicious and easy, as you make your purchase by picking a picture off a vending machine that dispenses you a ticket and then food arrives!

The Sony Centre also didn’t open until 11am, so we were there waiting when it did. We spent an hour or so wandering through all the present and future gadgets on offer and played a few of the video games. The most impressive piece of new technology (for the average consumer) were the new 3D televisions, however I’m not sure how they will go with customer satisfaction as watching it was giving us a headache after only 10 minutes. Must take a bit of getting used to.

Matt having his golf swing analysed (like he will ever need to know that!).

And now watching soccer on the 3D TVs. 3D was really freaky!

After the Sony Centre we continued on our walking tour to the Imperial Palace East Gardens...

The Imperial Gate. Unless you swim the moat and climb a fence, you can’t actually go inside the Imperial Palace, just the gardens to the East.

A small amount of green in a city of grey!

After that it was up the hill a little bit to the Modern Art Museum, which coincidentally was showing yet another architecture related exhibition called “Where is architecture? Seven Installations by Japanese Architects”. The exhibits were more artsy than architecture, but the best exhibit was one where they had made a model house and set a model sun rotating around it and then in the next room projected what the sun and shadows would look like from the inside of the house. Clever. The main museum was also quite good as there were explanations in English.

As it was included free with our ticket, we walked even further up the hill to the Craft Museum, which was showing all kinds of Japanese textiles such as kimono, pottery, lacquerware, glass and the exhibition was called “Colours” so all of the wares were set up to show a different colour in each room. I loved it, but I’m not sure Matt was son keen. Luckily there was a man bench on each floor.

Continuing on with our walking, we walked back through Ginza where I found an 11 storey stationary store. Gold! As we were so tired, we only did the first two floors, but I marked it for return as it looked like the perfect place to pick up some cute little (lightweight!) things.

Only in Japan!

With our feet killing we had just enough energy to freshen up for dinner and find something local again. We each picked a picture off the wall and sat up to the counter in the tiny eatery. When my food arrived it turned out to be a cheeseburger (it looked like an okonomiaki (Japanese pancake) in the picture) which if I wasn’t feeling so tired and lazy, I would have known if I had bothered to read the description of the meal I had picked! It came in an obento box though, so there were plenty of other bits and pieces to try!

We jumped on google maps and worked out we had walked at least 14km today. Japan is going to be good for us, but not for our poor feet. I did all of that in my Havaianas!

Day 239 – Mushrooms and Beer!

This morning we woke up early as we had wanted to hit the Tsukiji Fish Market before 8am, which was when it was supposed to be at its best, but as Matt read the description on how to walk there from our hotel, he realised it was closed the second Wednesday of each month, which happened to be today. Not wanting to waste the fact we were up early, we caught up on domestic things and found some more phrases on the internet to learn and waited for Tokyo to wake up.

We got a snack at Daimaru given it was at the train station. We have already learned that Japanese people are the way they are because they never rest! Not a bench or stool in site in the entire Tokyo Station or its surrounds. We settled for a quite corner to sit on the ground and munch on our sushi. The second thing we have noticed is that there are never any bins anywhere, despite the streets being spotlessly clean. So we carried our rubbish around most of the day (because of course everything comes in tiny individual packaging!)

First destination this morning was the Metropolitan Government Offices Observation Tower, which is a free ride up to the 45th floor of the offices for a view out over Tokyo. From the view we saw a really interesting looking building called the Cocoon and as it was on our way, we popped in there too, but only got a look at the foyer.

The view out over just part of the city. It looks like this in every direction!

The Cocoon Tower.

Matt had our lunch destination picked out already, a restaurant called “Mushroom”. It was a bit on the fancy side and we had a lot of trouble with the menu which was all in Kanji (I can read Hiragana and Katakana, but not the third alphabet Kanji!) but managed to explain what we liked and got the waitress to pick. We weren’t disappointed!!

Next on Matt’s destination list was the Yebisu Brewery for some beer tasting. We weren’t disappointed there either! Matt decided he would work towards being a “Bi-i-ru tou”, “Beer Master” or “Beer enthusiast” and earn himself a Yebisu Happi coat with the Yebisu God on the back. I think he may already qualify!

Some Yebisu sexy advertising from back in the day.

The Yebisu God!

Around the same area was the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography which was showing the World Press Photography 2010 exhibition. The exhibition was made up of all the winning photos for each category from World news events in 2009. The overall winner was very moving being of a lady calling out in the middle of the night from her rooftop in Tehran in protest of the resent election results, thought to have been rigged. There were even a couple of photos of Victoria’s Black Saturday that won awards.

The Ebisu neighbourhood was quite trendy in itself so given we had some time to spare we went for a wander. One of my favourite things to do in new places is exactly this, people watching as everyone goes about their daily routine (and often watches back!). We came across a really cool bookshop, so that put an end to the wandering, so much so we had to quickly hike back to the train to get back across town in time for our dinner date.

Tonight was very exciting as we were meeting up with Shouko, an exchange student my family hosted when I was 15 who had come back to Australia and stayed with us again two more times since. The last time was about 6 years ago, just after we came back from our last long overseas trip, so we weren’t sure if we would even recognise her. Of course we did straight away and although she is still tiny, she has turned into a gorgeous little women! It was so different to see her dressed up in her business clothes and drinking beer! Shouko took us to a trendy, tall stooled tapas-type bar filled with salary men and women near her work and we caught up on the last 6 years. She particularly remembered my very tall brother and we remembered that she never got lost in Melbourne (but now we now why – if you can navigate Tokyo, you can navigate anywhere!). She is now working as a pharmacist with the Japanese Government’s drug approvals agency and works from 9am until 7pm everyday, commutes an hour each way on the train and has learnt to sleep standing up! The poor thing hadn’t finished her work for the day and had to go back, so we tried not to keep her long, but had organised to come back towards the end of our trip to visit properly when she had two days off work.

Back at the hotel, we decided to bite the bullet and try the hotel’s onsen (hot spring/bath, traditionally enjoyed naked, genders separated). We had a shower in our room, so hadn’t had to experience communal bathing yet, but decided we had better get used to it! The setting was very pretty (no photos sorry), but the baths a scorching 40 degrees, so I only stayed in about 10 minutes and returned to the room to find Matt had done the same.

Costumed (or lack there-of) ready for our onsen!

Day 240 – Smells like fish

Up early again for a second go at the fish market, we made it down there by about 7.30am. An extremely busy place, made even more dangerous by the forklift/mini truck drivers zipping about the place at top speed, we walked up and down a few isles looking for interesting fishy creatures and giant tunas. Walking around in thongs was a bad idea, but I only got a minimal amount of fish guts on my dress!

We picked ourselves up some fresh tuna for breakfast and ate it on a park bench on the walk back to the hotel. Before leaving on our Shinkansen to Kyoto I got to visit Itoya Stationery again and we had a tasty vending machine picked lunch. This one didn’t have pictures so we had to match the Kanji on the plastic food out the front with the machine!

Mount Baker – Snoqualmie National Forest

2010-07-12T20:43:00.000+10:00

Day 234 – Up the creek without transmission

The Vancouver weather was again outstanding, so after going out for a spot of breakfast in Gastown we found a nice patch of lawn by False Creek and did some Japan reading (better late than never).

As we were due to fly out of Seattle on Sunday (it was US$300 each cheaper to fly from Seattle, despite the flight being with Air Canada and going back via Vancouver anyway!) we had pestered Elliott and Kat into driving us down there. As a sweetener we decided to do a spot of camping along the way. So we headed back over to Mountain Equipment Co-op to hire some equipment for the weekend. I astounded Erin by being able to quote our seven year old phone number when it came time to look up our membership number, of course I can’t remember the names of most of the people we lived with!

I spent most of the afternoon trying to find a good spot to camp on the way between Vancouver and Seattle, but was frustratingly finding out that most places were booked up (Washington State Park Service have an online booking system for camping and cabins in State Parks, whilst this makes it easier to find a camping space if you are prepared, it also makes it much harder to find one if you are trying to do it last minute).

Elliott was slightly delayed at work so we set off a bit late, stopping for pizza just before the border. Crossing into the US went the same way it usually does (slowly and unpleasantly) but we eventually hit Highway US5 south just as it was getting dark. At this stage I finally made a decision about where we should head. Along the Snoqualmie River in the Mount Baker – Snoqualmie National Forest (try saying that one five times fast) there are about half a dozen campgrounds, many with first in best dressed spots.

It was pitch dark by the time we found the first of them and discovered the campground full sign. By the time we found the fifth full sign and realised that the car was starting to die (we’d used half a tank of petrol in about 100km and the transmission was acting funny) we were starting to get a little worried. Abandoning the campground idea we went in search of a bush site. When trying to restart the car after an unsuccessful bush bash in search of spot down a side road we were rather alarmed when the car wouldn’t budge out of park. It was beginning to look like we’d be sleeping in the car when Kat had the bright idea to try shifting into 4WD. Amazingly this did the trick and from then on we left the car in neutral and became less picky about a spot.

Sometime after midnight we found a slightly lumpy patch of ground just big enough for our tent between the river and the road, quickly erected our tent, went through the headspin inducing undertaking of inflating the airbed and quickly collapsed asleep.

Day 235 – Changing fortunes

We awoke in the morning to the sound of traffic (we really weren’t that far off the road) and surveyed our campsite, deciding to go in search of a less precarious spot.

Packing up campsite one, there is a steep drop to the river about 2m behind Kat and the main road about 5m in front of me.

We soon discovered that finding campsites in the daylight was considerably easier and about 5 minutes up the road came across a nice spot, well off the road just a bit back from the river amongst tall trees. When we went down to inspect it the guys occupying prime position in the area (closer to the river, more secluded) were packing up, so all we had to do was wait for them and their two Pomeranians to vacate and the spot was ours. Jackpot!

Furthermore as the guys were leaving one of them said to Elliott and I, “There’s a bit of firewood down there, I tried to burn it all but I couldn’t, so you’re welcome to it”, “Thanks” we replied. “A bit” of firewood was a major understatement, we didn’t burn it all either. If we had, you would have been able to see the flames from wherever you’re sitting now!

After quickly re-establishing our camp we headed into nearby Robe to grab some supplies and have some (really greasy) breakfast at the town’s only diner. From there it was a matter of spending the afternoon lazing by the river, playing cards and making some more s’mores! (S’mores: Biscuit, slice of Mars or Snickers, freshly roasted marshmallow and biscuit lid to make a sandwich!)

In the evening Kat decided to cook us up some damper, we disputed the correct method, whether it should be done over flame or buried in coals, and ended up doing both, resulting in decent damper twice over. We also had tinned spaghetti and soup, cooked in the tin over the fire (no pots or pans you see), and of course jacket potatoes with onion and garlic, not bad all in all. Eventually we retired for the evening, dreading our early start in the morning, and trying not to dwell too much on whether the car would get us to Seattle Airport in time for our flight (or at all for that matter)!

Retrieving the beers from the fridge.

Men say ‘ugg’, what do women say?

Elliott and I may have added to it a little once the girls got it going!

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[Footnote – We’ve borrowed heavily from Marg and Jeff and Kat and Elliott’s photos over the last few weeks worth of posts. Unlike in South America where we individually credited Hanneke and Maaike’s photos we’ve been too lazy this time, so instead a brief thanks here: thanks heaps guys, not just for the photos but for spending the last few weeks with us.]

Vancouver again!

2010-07-09T20:28:00.000+10:00

Day 223 – We must be homesick!

Apart from a brief attempt to run, today we spent most of the day in Kat and Elliott’s apartment, watching cable TV, baking, cleaning and doing everyone’s washing! Our evening was spent sitting around in the apartment with a few tinnies with Elliott and Kat and the boys.

Day 224 – Model fun

This afternoon we headed over to Granville Island again for a bite to eat at the market and to check out the Emily Carr University of Art and Design which shows student art and other exhibitions for free. The exhibition happened to be “In Study Model Wonderland – from Halifax to Vancouver” displaying architectural models from various firms across Canada and discussing how modelling assists in the process of designing a building. Interesting stuff.

After that we walked up to one of our favourite shops, Mountain Equipment Co-op, to look at all the pretty gear and test out some tents. Then we walked over to some of the more girly shops I wanted to look at, but they were all gone!

Day 225 – Adera Mini Reunion

Tonight we caught up with Tim, Freddy and Clayton, our former housemates from Adera House, at the Irish Heather whisky bar. It was fantastic to hear all about what the guys have been up to in the last 7 years and the others we came across over time and also to find that as with ourselves, everything and nothing had changed.

Tim, Freddy, Clayton and us.

Day 226 - Canada Day

Today we all had a sleep in and then got into the spirit of Canada Day with some drinks and maple leaf tattoos before we hit the streets to see what was happening around town.

Leftovers from the recent Winter Olympics.

It was a really nice night sky, so I decided to take some more pictures from Kat and Elliott’s apartment balcony:

Fireworks starting.

The view of the fireworks from the apartment was a little obscured by one building in particular so we quickly walked down to Canada Place to take a look.

Day 227 – We heart Footscray

As soon as Kat and Elliott got home from work tonight we jumped in the car and headed out to the Richmond Night Market for some cheap eats and people watching. Richmond is the area of Vancouver that we can equate most to Footscray as there is a high population of Asian immigrants and accordingly excellent cheap Asian food. The food isles were packed but we still enjoyed going from stall to stall munching and lining up for whatever had the biggest line (because it must be good!) and then poking around the imports in the market section.

Hurricane Potatoes, definitely a winner!

Day 228 - Dutch for the day

During the day today, the guys had people over to watch the World Cup match which was at a very sensible hour in Vancouver, 11am. Matt and I had been asked that many times in South America whether we were Dutch and so accordingly we decided to go for orange [Matt – as Australia never made it to the World Cup during my lifetime until 2006 I had been taught as a child to go for Holland anyway!].

That night it was off to Lamplighters for a spot of UFC – Ultimate Fighting Challenge, something Matt (Grogan, housemate) was particularly excited about as it was apparently an important match. Matt and I just came along for the beers and Kat promised a dance floor at the end of the night so it wasn’t so bad after all!

Ben, Megan,us, Elliott.

Day 229 – Losing our stamina

Today was a long day of recovery, movies at home and general hangout given it was a Sunday. We did however get out of the house and over to Shabusen, our favourite all-you-can-eat Japanese for lunch. It was still just as yummy and we even got our usual table!

Day 230 - Even fuller full house

Today it was back to domestic duties as the apartment was a bombsite after the weekend and Libba (James Liberatore, friend from home, nephew of the great) was arriving this afternoon. We did however get out for a run along the seawall and over to the Olympic Village for a look around and then for a walk into the city to pick up our JR Rail Pass Vouchers ready for Japan.

Libba found us and the apartment, despite Ben and/or Matt’s dodgy directions (though he did need to be aided by some kind policemen after wandering into one of Vancouver’s dodgier areas!) and needless to say another round of drinks was enjoyed until the early hours.

Day 231 – The Grouse Grind

Today there was more 11am soccer followed by a big effort to get off the couch and over to the Grouse Grind. We had to do something outside as it was the first 30 degree day we had had despite it apparently being Summer.

The Grouse Grind is a 2.9km walk up 853 m with an average grade of 56%. Over 100,000 people a year hike the Grouse Grind, so we were hardly in for a wilderness experience – just some exercise!

A few Nannas past us along the way, but we made it in just over an hour. Nowhere near the 20-something minute record, but we didn’t die!!

The view from the top of Grouse Mountain, looking back over to Vancouver.

The cable car that took us back down as the Grind is only a one way track.

That night whilst everyone else had fallen in a heap (the weekend and working catching up I think!), I was keen to go and get some night photos of the Lions Gate Bridge. This involved getting a bus over to Stanley Park, not such a scary prospect until we (yes, I dragged Matt) realised how long it was from the bus stop through the park to the bridge and how poorly lit the park really is – a little on the scary side!

The Lions weren’t as lit up as I had hoped they would be (those are the two sculptures at the entrance to the bridge at the bottom of the photo).

Day 232 - Long time Pho see

Today we worked a bit on our “future plans” i.e. check on the money situation, book some things to do in Japan, think of what to do next and maybe even think about going home! We got a bit of blogging done too, as the fans were getting restless as we have been lazy of late!

As it was Beck in particular that hinted about our lack of blogging, we both got the urge to seek out some Footscray style Pho for lunch! We were in luck as there was one in the food court in Elliott’s building. Nowhere near as good as being down in Footscray with our friends, but not too bad.

As it was another glorious 30 degree day, as soon as Elliott and Kat got home from work we packed up the picnic rug, some munchies and coldies Matt and I had prepared earlier and headed for Kitsilano Beach. A lot of other people had the same idea too, which made traffic a little congested, but also made for good people watching!

From the car park we could see a nice free patch of grass and so headed for that. Just as we were a few steps away, a tall blonde girl sat down and set up her stuff. Damn! We all said until we looked over again and saw that it was actually Megan (Ben’s girlfriend) out of the 5,000 people it could have been at the beach! So we crashed her party of one and once a few more people had arrived, our picnic of four had turned into a beach party.

Day 233 – From Pizza delivery boy to Prime Minister

As it was yet another bright and sunny Summer day, when Freddy invited us out on a bit of a boat trip we snapped it right up. Freddy, former Adera housemate of ours, was newly arrived from Brazil when we met. He was in Vancouver trying to learn English, earning cash by delivering pizzas from a beat up old blue van, chasing girls in his spare time and sharing a room with another Brazilian girl (without the benefits) to save money. When we arrived in Vancouver this time around, we were not surprised one bit to see that Freddy is now a high up salesman in a telecommunications company and flying all over the place, speaking English better than us, married to a beautiful Brazilian lady, owns a house in Deep Cover (think Brighton Beach, or along those lines), drives a brand new VW Taureg and of course owns a boat! All this and still down to Earth as ever. Freddy, sorry Francisco, you deserve every bit of it.

So after work, generous as Freddy is, he picked us up from the apartment (Elliott was unfortunately feeling unwell and had had the day off work and Kat was too tired to move after falling in a heap – missed out!!) and drove us out to his place at Deep Cove. Tim was also coming and was already waiting for us. He took the three of us for a tour of the palace and showed us the fixing up he had done and would be doing and then with beers safely in the hidden esky, we jumped in the car with the boat hooked up and down to the nearby marina.

Once the boat was in and the tunes were on, we were cruising… no sorry speeding down the Indian Arm to a waterfall and water access only camping area Freddy wanted to show us.

Freddy, chatting and driving!

No slowing down for photos!

A disused hydro plant that I reckon I could turn into a great hotel!

Not sure if the waterfall has a name, but the camp great looked like a great place to stay. Freddy reckoned that if you timed the tides right it was only a few hours in a kayak to get you there from Vancouver. Nice.

And, the stupid Canadians got in the freezing ice melt, despite the sun going down and with no towels or bathers!

The campground.

The boys and the expensive toy. None of us were game to learn to wake board in the freezing waters!

Dusk over Van on the way back.

After the trip was over and we made it safely past the police without them checking for empties, we took the boat back to Freddy’s and helped him rinse its bits’n’pieces and then Freddy drove the three of us back into Gastown. We dropped into the Cambie for a beer and a burger on the way back to the apartment. An extremely pleasant evening! Thanks again Freddy and Tim!

Dee Lake

2010-06-28T12:36:00.000+10:00

Day 220 – Finally some nice cheese

First thing in the morning we all piled into the Beast one last time to ferry Marg and Jeff to the airport. We went in with them and spectated as they (and all the other poor passengers) dealt with American Airlines idiotic self check-in machines. We then said a quick goodbye and watched them disappear through customs pre-clearance.

After a quick breakfast back at the hotel we hit the road back toward Vancouver. As we didn’t need to be back until Sunday afternoon and it was only Friday morning we’d picked a place to stay for a couple of nights halfway back. Forgetting that it was an hour earlier in BC than it was in Alberta we made a call to try and get a reservation, the woman sounded a little peeved (because of the early hour we later realised) but we did manage to secure ourselves a ‘rustic cabin’ for a couple of nights.

After a few hours on the Trans-Canadian we turned south down the Okanagan Valley, and much to Elliott’s delight passed a sign advertising a cheese factory (he’d had a hankering for nice cheese for about a week), so in Armstrong we made a stop. Inside the shop we discovered a bus load of middle aged ladies from all over Canada. They seemed to be spending more time batting their eyelids at the poor guy serving the samples, but when they cleared we set to work sampling every cheese in the place. We eventually agreed on four, a nice creamy Traminer, a Mediterranean herb, a jalapeño and one other I can’t recall.

Next stop was Kelowna for supplies (beer and wine mostly, but also enough food to see us through a couple of days, not to mentions crackers for our cheese!), before we headed up into the hills towards Dee Lake. As we hit the gravel we wondered whether the Beast was allowed off the bitumen, but decided seen as it was a 4WD it was only appropriate. Finally we arrived to find a quaint little ‘resort’ nestled amongst evergreen forest on the banks of a beautiful little lake.

Our cabin was indeed ‘rustic’, but it had everything we needed, two double beds, a table and chairs, a really comfy lounge chair, sink, gas stove, fireplace and heaps of firewood. Naturally Elliott and I set straight to work building a fire, Elliott seemed to especially enjoy chopping wood (for me it brought back memories of my grandparents’ farm). After dinner we tried to sit around the fire making s’mores and playing cards, but the ferocity of the mosquitoes eventually droves us inside. So instead we sat in front of the fire inside and played cards!

Day 221 – Paradise is probably warmer with less mosquitoes.

This morning we capitalised on the opportunity to sleep, then stocked up on mosquito repellent and ice and headed down to one of the little docks on the lake. While the sun was out it was beautiful, but when it went behind a cloud we had to temporarily rug up. I tried going for a dip in the lake, but only lasted a couple of minutes before the cold forced me back onto the dock to warm up in the sun. Otherwise we did very little all day, it was wonderful!

Day 222 – Back to reality (for some)

In the morning we packed up and said farewell to our little cabin. Except for some lunch at Subway in Hope and some terrible Sunday afternoon traffic getting back into Vancouver, the trip home was pretty unremarkable. We did however drive past the spot where we had run out of petrol six years earlier and had met Pat and his Weimaraner, unbelievably Kat had never heard the story (one of our favourites), so we were kept amused telling that for a little while.

Getting back to Elliott and Kat’s apartment in Vancouver felt like returning home. It’s funny how quickly we can adopt that notion nowadays!

Banff

2010-06-25T11:59:00.000+10:00

Day 217 – Chasing squirrels

This being the first day in a while where we weren’t on a tight schedule we all (except Jeff of course) took the opportunity to sleep in. While everyone was deciding what we were going to do with our day I went for a run around nearby Table Mountain. Half of me was hoping to spot a bear as I ran through the woods, the other half was hoping not to! In the end, I only spotted some birds and a few ground squirrels.

Around about lunchtime we headed out to explore the town. It’s quite a scenic place, if perhaps a little imitation Swiss mountain village.

Everywhere you look there is a mountain backdrop.

In the afternoon we took advantage of the hot pools at the resort, sampling both the warm and cool pools before having a sauna.

On our way back from picking up Ben from his hotel (he was in Banff with work) we spotted some caribou wandering along the street as well as a field full of ground squirrels. When we got back and told Marg and Erin about this they got quite excited so we went for a walk to do some wildlife spotting (which mostly consisted of Erin and Marg chasing small mammals around an open grassy area!).

There’s that backdrop again.

Elliott and Kat had a hankering for a BBQ, so they cooked us one up for dinner, then we hit the bar at the nearby backpackers hostel (though Erin and I were a bit over the backpacker scene!):

And now for the silly faces part of the night:

Day 218 – Bare bear bums

Today we headed to Lake Louise, an excursion that Marg had been eagerly anticipating. On the way there we avoided the Trans-Canadian and instead went along the Bow Valley Parkway, hoping we might catch a glimpse of some wildlife. We were rewarded not far into the drive when we spotted a caribou with a nice big rack (of antlers!) grazing by the side of the road.

About halfway to Lake Louise we made a stop at Johnson Canyon for a bit of exercise and some more waterfall viewing. Unfortunately we’d been spoiled by the offerings at Wells Gray and today’s waterfalls looked a little tame. We were also a little put off by the huge numbers of people on the walking trail, many of whom looked equipped for multi-day adventures, despite the trail being basically wheelchair accessible! In fact the highlight of the walk was probably watching the tiny ground squirrels.

At Lake Louise we ummed and ahhed about whether to pick up some lunch in the pricey hotel, eventually settling on a snack from the hotel bar overlooking the lake.

It was difficult to capture it in photos, but the lake was quite a brilliant blue colour which was supposed to be even brighter about a month from now.

This photo probably would have been better looking the other direction with the lake in the background , rather than a wall, oh well…

Our next stop was Moraine Lake, a bit nicer in my opinion because it doesn’t have a monstrous hotel perched on its edge.

After a big night out last night, this evening was rather more sedate - we played Pictionary. Elliott and I got away to an early lead, which looked unassailable. Alas this was not the case, Kat and Erin overtook us at the final hurdle. Ben and Marg on the other hand, lets just say they had fun.

Day 219 – The day Tom Tom and I became friends

This morning we had to tick off our last Banff tourist item, the Banff Gondola, before heading toward Calgary to drop off Marg and Jeff for their flight to New York. The entry price was steeper than the line of gondola towers up the mountain, but it also included entry to their small network of trails and interpretative signs at the top of the mountain.

We asked Tom Tom (Elliott’s GPS gizmo) where to stop for lunch on the way to Calgary. I’ve had the wineries and breweries option turned on all week, but so far Tom Tom has only taken us to fruit wineries (boo) and a vacant factory in Kamloops that was once a microbrewery. So when Tom Tom pointed us to ‘Grizzly Paw Brewery’ in Canmore I was sceptical. But this time he was on the money, and sure enough he delivered us to a microbrewery that not only served tasting platters of it’s brews, but also lunch.

Late afternoon we checked into our little hotel suite near Calgary Airport. Although we hadn’t realised when we booked it, the hotel not only had a pool, but also a waterslide. Our excitement only mounted after the first go when we realised that the waterslide wasn’t even lame, on the contrary it spat you out into the pool like a cannonball (with some nice friction burns if you weren’t careful).

Before dinner we did a quick drive around downtown Calgary so that we could say we’d seen it, and then settled on a pretty ordinary (but cheap at least) Vietnamese restaurant for dinner.

Wells Gray Provincial Park and the Icefields Parkway

2010-06-22T11:56:00.000+10:00

Day 216 – Waterfalls, mountains, glaciers, sheep and a lot of driving

Wells Gray Provincial Park is a huge tract of wilderness in the middle of BC. Aside from a few roads that penetrate a small way in from various directions, the road we drove up was the only substantial paved incursion into the park. I have a bit of a waterfall obsession that everyone kindly decided to share for the morning. Our first stop was Spahat Falls, where a narrow canyon emerges into a broad bowl creating quite a stunning effect.

Next stop, a bit further into the park was Dawson Falls. Quite different from Spahat Falls, here the broad river cascades over a wide drop in the river. Perhaps the most impressive feature of these falls was the rainbow shining through the spray.

The waterfall hat trick was completed by Helmcken Falls. Supposedly the most impressive of the park’s falls we all agreed that we preferred Dawson Falls. They were also an impressive sight nonetheless.

On the way back toward the main road Marg spotted some wildflowers by the road and we pulled over so she could get some practice with the macro mode on their new camera.

Our final stop in the park was Green Mountain Viewing Tower where we grabbed a few quick snaps before hitting the road toward Alberta.

Erin practicing to be a grid girl. [E: Because that beast made me look skinny ; p ]

Driving toward and then around the imposing Mount Robson, BC’s highest peak.

After a quick whizz around the town of Jasper we headed south toward Banff along the spectacular Icefields Parkway.

Some Bighorn Sheep kindly grazing within viewing distance of the road.

Athabasca Glacier as seen from the Columbia Icefield Centre.

Eventually the Icefields Parkway joins the Trans-Canadian Highway, which as it passes through the national park has regular animal bridges!

Early in the evening we finally reached Banff and checked into the luxurious accommodation that Marg and Jeff had kindly organised for the six of us. Aside from our three story apartment we also had views over the surrounding countryside from the balcony and access to some lovely hot pools. While Elliott and Kat cooked us dinner all that was left for us to do was relax.

Banff Hidden Ridge Resort.

Clearwater

2010-06-21T23:27:00.000+10:00

Day 215 – An introduction to winging it

This morning Jeff took the wheel and we headed off north from Whistler, taking the scenic route toward Kamloops. Our eventual destination was Banff, but we had a couple of days to cover the distance so we decided to go for the scenic option rather than direct up the Trans-Canadian Highway.

Lake Lillooet, our first rest stop of the day.

On the outskirts of Lillooet we stopped in at a winery, but they’d not yet had their own harvest and were instead selling wine made from grapes from the Okanagan Valley a couple of hundred kilometres away. It wasn’t bad stuff but it was a little pricey.

For lunch we stopped at a fruit winery in Cache Creek. Their wine was made from a wide variety of fruits (some of which we’d never even heard of), most of which were grown on their farm. Varieties included Salmonberry, Raspberry, Apricot and Honey.

In Kamloops we tried to stop at a microbrewery to round out the hat trick, disappointingly the brewery was gone, so we turned north and headed up the Upper Fraser Valley in search of accommodation for the night.

At first Marg was a little hesitant about winging it, but we convinced her it would be OK for one night. When we got to the little town of Clearwater we decided that we had travelled far enough for a day and went in search of accommodation. The first place we looked at was right on the lake, but a bit too pokey for the six of us. The second place was a bit more rundown, but much roomier, cheaper and also over-looked the beautiful lake, quite a winner in the end.

Standing on our balcony.

It turned out that not much happens in Clearwater on a Sunday afternoon. We found the one place left open with beer (crisis averted) but ended up having to acquire dinner ingredients from the service station, not great but we got by.

Provisions obtained we headed down to the little beach on the lake. Jeff and I each had a swim and then Erin, Kat, Elliott and I sat around on the shore for a while. The temperature was still in the high 20s, quite a pleasant change from the cool coastal weather.

Out for an evening stroll.

Whistler

2010-06-20T23:24:00.000+10:00

Day 214 – Diving headfirst into a ravine

After saying our farewells to Karen (Randy was long gone despite sleeping through his alarm) we headed for Nanaimo to catch the ferry back to the mainland. From Horseshoe Bay we drove up the Sea to Sky Highway noting the changes since we last drove the route – a different season and vast improvements made for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Fifteen minutes short of Whistler we turned off the main road and drove up into the mountains. Our destination, a metal bridge spanning a deep gorge with a raging river at the bottom, Whistler Bungy. Elliott and Kat had been planning a jump for a while and Marg and Jeff kindly put in half for my birthday, so I got to jump to. Nobody else seemed interested in much other than spectating, in fact Marg seemed a little hesitant to even cross the bridge.

Looking down.

Trying to look brave.

In the office they weighed us in, Elliott and Kat who were going to jump together were warned that they’d probably get a fair dunking as they were right at the top of the weight limit. Unfortunately the guy in charge decided that they would get too wet and shortened their rope, boo! Kat had to climb onto Elliott like a koala so they could hook them together, then all Kat had to do was hold on while Elliott shuffled toward the edge and bravely jumped off. [Warning: if you’ve got headphones in and intend to watch the video below, I suggest you turn the volume down a bit now…]

That’s Kat’s brave face I guess.

Going down.

According to Elliott, Kat screamed the whole way down, when they got to the bottom and started going back up she changed to a relived giggle, only to realise that second fall was nearly as big and changed back to screaming!

For some reason they slotted a few extra people in, then it was my turn. Despite being fairly height desensitised from climbing it still took a bit of will to throw myself head first toward the rapids below. Ben and Megan luckily arrived just in time to get a good video:

Practising my Kung Fu.

After all that excitement we headed into Whistler, checked into our hotel, went for a wander around the village (again, unsurprisingly different in Summer, though not much warmer) and had dinner at The Spaghetti Factory.

Whistler IGA sold out of Vegemite, even at $9 a jar!

Vancouver Island

2010-06-19T22:59:00.000+10:00

Day 213 – Road trip!

Aiming for the 9am ferry to Vancouver Island we picked up Marg and Jeff from their hotel at 8 and headed out of town. Roadwork on the way to the ferry terminal at Tsawwassen thwarted our plan, but we made it onto the 10am ferry with no worries.

View from the ferry as it passed through the Gulf Islands.

Getting off the ferry at the other side I drove with extreme caution (I’d smashed our Honda Civic into the back of a five car pileup seven years ago in the same spo) and we headed for the Butchart Gardens, something Marg was most excited about. These 55 acre gardens were created over 100 years ago by the wife of a cement manufacturer in the exhausted limestone quarry near their house. They are now probably the most popular tourist attraction on Vancouver Island.

A very excited Marg!

The best looking quarry I’ve seen in a while!

Just like old times!

A window onto Tod Inlet.

Kat and Elliott in the Japanese Garden.

After lunch at the gardens we headed into downtown Victoria for a look around. In part this involved the three men trying to keep the three women out of shops. Eventually we lured them into a bar for a couple of beers / sangrias before having to repay the favour and wander around the waterfront market stalls.

The Empress Hotel on the Victoria Harbour.

Totem pole in front of the British Columbian Legislative Assembly Building (Victoria is the capitol of BC, not Vancouver).

I think Erin has a pretty similar photo from our first visit.

In the evening we met up with Karen and Randy for dinner. Karen was a Rotary Exchange Student as a teenager and stayed with Pompa (Jeff’s Dad). We met up with Karen and Randy when we were first visiting and they helped us out of a bind when we crashed the car. Not only that but we realised that we are all quite like minded and got along famously, and so we were really looking forward to catching up with them.

First Karen and Randy took us all to dinner at a Greek restaurant in the suburbs of Victoria before we hopped in the Beast and followed their (relatively) tiny VW back up to their beautiful house in the hills. Despite the fact that they were halfway through renovations they kindly put all six of us up for the night and like in previous times, Randy kept us entertained with his storytelling and banter for way too long (he had to be up before dawn to go to work)! It was fantastic catching up and such a shame we only had one night to spare.

Casey at Erin’s foot was only a puppy when we visited last.

Vancouver

2010-06-18T08:29:00.000+10:00

Day 209 – Brown Reunion

At around 6am this morning the boat entered Burrard Inlet and we could see Vancouver. I couldn’t wait to see Vancouver again and so was out on the deck (in the dark!) taking photos as we pulled in. The ship looked like it had about 2 feet to spare as edged under the Lions Gate Bridge.

We met up with Elliott (my brother) and Kat (his gorgeous girlfriend) at Canada Place and walked to their apartment downtown.

After a quick freshen up, we hopped on a ferry over to Granville Island to pick up some supplies and then headed over to English Bay for a picnic.

After a very pleasant afternoon catching up in the sun with some yummy food and wine, we walked back through downtown to the apartment where Kat and Elliott guessed right by having the ingredients for a ‘lighter meal’, beef salad, ready for our dinner. They had done a similar cruise (which is where the idea came from) and remembered how they felt after 7 days of eating boat food!

Day 210 – Memory Lane

Today was a bit of a trip down memory lane for Matt and I, as well as a chance to show Mum and Dad around our old stomping grounds and where Elliott and Kat have been living and working for the past year.

We couldn’t resist the all-you-can-eat Japanese at Metrotown, the shopping mall near Kat’s work.

We drive up the Burnaby hill and around the campus of my university, Simon Fraser. I had lost my favourite t-shirt, a Simon Fraser one, and so couldn’t resist the urge to go in and buy a new one. Turns out it was graduation ceremony day so the place was packed and we couldn’t get parking and unfortunately they didn’t have the same t-shirts anymore.

Elliott made the mistake of mentioning to Mum that there were squirrels everywhere in Central Park near his old apartment in Burnaby, so we all hopped out in the rain to chase them. This was the best photo Mum got… so we’ll have to go hunting for more!

This is the site of Matt and I’s former place of residence called Adera House. Adera House was a 4 story mansion that had been used for all kinds of purposes over its life (including a psych hospital) that we shared with 17 other people when we lived here, but built on prime real estate in the equivalent of Toorak in Vancouver, it was only a matter of time before developers would get to it! *sniff* *sniff*

Day 211 – Fun and Games

This morning was Dad’s turn to pick and so we headed over to Science World, a huge silver spherical building at the end of False Creek.

Mixed in with mostly primary school aged kids we had to fight our way through to get a go at all the games and puzzles on offer, as most kids assumed the adults the room would let them go first!

Matt competing with 4th graders to fit inside the box!

Sibling rivalry. The ball moves away from the person who can relax their brain activity the most. I think given I haven’t worked a day in 7 months, I had the advantage!

Oh no!

After Science World we jumped back in the car and went for a drive to Jericho Beach and Point Grey.

Elliott and Kay with the Lion’s Gate Bridge in the background.

Elliott came over to Canada in May of 2009 with two of our family friends from home. Ben, one of the two, was working on setting up some audio equipment at the aquarium this week and so managed to score us some free passes. So after our wander around, we drove to Stanley Park and went to the Aquarium.

Baby Beluga Whale

Pacific White-sided Dolphins

The downstairs area was dedicated to frogs and toads!

One of the best bits was the Jelly Fish display. It was like moving art!

And of course Matts favourite, the sea otter. We caught him right on feeding time and he was such a character!

After the Aquarium, we went for a stroll around Stanley Park. Mum got some more squirrel pics and we watched as a cheeky racoon stole a family’s picnic lunch while they were playing on the nearby equipment!

For dinner we caught the ferry over to the North Shore opposite Vancouver downtown. The service at the restaurant we picked wasn’t the best, but the food was mostly good and it was a nice night on the deck.

Day 212 – The beginnings of our road trip!

Today we picked up our HUGE hire car, a Chevrolet Suburban, ready for our road trip to Calgary and then drove back over to North Vancouver to visit Lynn Canyon and the suspension bridge.

“The Beast”, the biggest car I have ever driven!

Kat and Elliott on the Big Rock in Lynn Canyon park.

The suspension bridge.

I think I took this exact same picture 7 years ago, but it’s still beautiful!

For lunch we drove east to the gorgeous Deep Cove. When we hopped out of the car we had a laugh at this sign:

Deep Cove.

We had to head back to Vancouver straight after lunch as we had organised a surprise for Mum and Dad, given we’d all missed their last birthday, Christmas and Mother’s and Father’s Days. Their treat was a flight on a float plane to Horseshoe Bay for dinner, followed by a limo ride back to Vancouver.

Meanwhile, we took some snaps from Elliott’s apartment:

The Inside Passage – Anchorage to Vancouver Cruise

2010-06-15T08:03:00.000+10:00

Day 203 – Trapped in the floating city

This morning I got up early with Dad and went for a walk around “Deck 7”, the only deck you could walk entirely around the balcony outside without hitting a restaurant, swimming pool, casino or bar. ‘Twas a little chilly but the views were awesome across the water and passing by a few snow caps. Dad, as he always does, made us a friend, Paul from Minnesota and they chatted stock market and American schooling. Just under three laps is a mile and we did as many as we could before breakfast.

We decided to hit the food court upstairs for breakfast. That was a bit of a mistake as we all found the cooked breakfast way way too salty and greasy, so much so that poor Mum later had a reaction.

Today we were just cruising all day through Yakutat Bay so we had to find some stuff to do on the boat. First order of the day, completing the “treasure hunt” which involved visiting certain shops and services around the boat and getting a stamp for your efforts. We were going to tour the boat anyway, so we killed another bird for a chance to win free stuff. We figured everyone else would think it was lame which would increase our chances of winning! We entered our card and didn’t win anything but it helped orientate us a bit anyway, well Matt at least! And we also learned that internet was 55c per minute with a minimum of 100 minutes – so no communication for a while!

After lunch we met up at the pool for a swim while we were waiting for the boat to arrive at Hubbard Glacier. Right near the pool was the all you can eat soft serve and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, so of course The Browns were lined up with all the kiddies to get in on that action.

We finally pulled up towards the spectacular Hubbard Glacier. A little bit soggy from the pool we realised we couldn’t go outside to take photos because it was too cold! After a quick costume change we were on the deck with the other 2,000 passengers snapping away:

Tonight was the first of the “formal nights” on the boat. Mum and Dad had to bring a tie for Matt and we both did a quick run around in our last days in Colombia for proper shoes to be let into the dining room! As we hadn’t been to the formal dining room yet, we had to be seated by the Maitre D’ and introduced to our wait staff, Jorge and Yvette and be explained the menu which involved any combination for four each of appetisers, entrées, mains and desserts. Tough stuff. The food had taste, and more importantly less salt and we enjoyed the whole experience wondering why we had been eating in the food court up until now! There was even escargot which I surprised everyone by eating and enjoying.

Mum all dolled up.

We went to the on board musical called … hmm can’t remember, but I at least know where all my fellow dancing colleges who didn’t make it ended up!

Day 204 – Glacier Bay

This morning it was straight to the formal dining room for breakfast. Another positive experience except for the fact we had to share a table of eight and make small talk with Southern American retirees. They weren’t too bad, but typically lacking in sense of humour and stared blankly at my dad who they couldn’t even understand! Dad was happy though because he said they laugh at all his jokes and make him look skinny!

Cruising again all day we checked our schedule of events and after pondering what the “Friends of Bill W” meeting was (I guessed AA) we decided to beat some Americans at trivia. Our host, Marvin, was an over-the-top and outrageously gay Filipino entertainer who had all the old ducks eating out of his hand and competing to be his favourite! Matt was sceptical at first saying, “What’s the bet all the questions are stuff like ‘What is the state flower of Florida and other Americanisms that we will have no idea about?’”. Question number three was “The Orange Blossum is the flower of which state?” (Answer: Florida!) So naturally we pissed ourselves laughing and had the whole room wondering what pills the Australians were on!! Later there was a question about the number of stars on the Australian flag. The guy in front of us turns around and says to us “Hey, y’all should be excluded from that question” and of course Matt replies back what we were all thinking, “Well, you should be excluded from the other 19!” We came second by one question, which of course bought on the determination to come back another day, Matt was no longer sceptical. I asked Marvin who the “Friends of Bill W” were and he replied “For the peoples who are drinking drinking too much” whilst making a cup tipping action!

In the afternoon we cracked one of the bottles of wine we had snuck on board and watched out the windows as we cruised through Glacier Bay. Mum had it right when she said it was like a postcard that changed every minute.

Day 205 – Ruff ‘n’ Tumble

At about 6am this morning we were woken up by a pleasantly toned “Doong doong doong… We have now arrived in Skagway…” So seeing as we were awake, we got up and going.

Mum and Dad had booked themselves into an organised tour taking them up through the White Pass. Still getting used to the price of things in North America and needing some exercise, we opted to go for an explore.

The Island Princess parked at Skagway.

Just behind the town of Skagway was a set of walking tracks straight up the hill. We first decided to take it easy and walk up hill 30 minutes or so to do a lap of Lower Dewey Lake.

The view over Skagway from part way up the hill.

The stream leading into Lower Dewey Lake

Lower Dewey Lake

With some time left before heading back to the boat for lunch, we decided to head further up the hill to Icy Lake and the Upper Reid Falls.

Icy Lake

The top of Reid Falls. The paraphernalia was due to the fact that this also is the Skagway town water supply.

A local.

After viewing the top of the falls and emerging from the “No Trespassing area” containing the water supply paraphernalia, Matt gave me the alternative of taking the path back around and down to the Lower Dewey Falls and back to town, or his more “direct” route down to Lower Dewey Falls. Me being the dutiful partner of almost 10 years could see on Matt’s face we were taking the direct route. All was going slowly, a little bit exposed and scary, but well, until we got to within about 100 metres of the main path again. To get down there was almost vertical and very mossy and leafy. Matt made his way down, skipping across a ledge and made it look easy to get down and throwing in a small controlled slide to get to the path. I, on the other hand, decided I wasn’t going Matt’s way, wasn’t going to get across the ledge and would not be sliding anywhere in my new jacket. I yelled this out to him, but I was wrong. At that moment I slipped, slid down about 50 metres bumping rocks and screaming all the way, completely missed the path, went over the next edge and stopped clinging to a tree. So it turns out I had no choice! I was only bleeding a bit from the scrapes on my back and I had a hole in the butt of my pants, but no serious injuries…. So anyway, all to get to here:

Lower Reid Falls

We headed back to town, thankfully on a path, and back to the boat to clean up and have lunch. I almost needed two showers as I had bark and dirt in all kinds of places!

Back in town there wasn’t that much of interest unfortunately. The cruise companies had done a pretty good job of buying up all the real estate and turning most of the main shopping strip into jewellery and souvenir shops. We did manage to find “The Alaskan Fudge Company” next door to “Skagway Brewing Co” so we were both entertained for an hour or so with some samplers. There were also some interesting local clothing to purchase!

Guess its to keep out the cold?!

There was also a cool vintage train. It took us a minute to work out that that is a snow plough on the front.

Back on the boat we heard about what a fantastic day Mum and Dad had taking the White Pass Rail up into the hills, exploring the Yukon and Bove Island, the beautiful scenery and in particular visiting the sub-artic tundra and a husky camp. All while we were served another yummy 4 course meal by Jorge and Yvette.

Here are a few from Mum and Dad’s day as well:

Day 206 – Upside down trees

This morning we had pulled up in Juneau, the capital of Alaska. We were up and out again reasonable early as we had to be back on board by 3pm to set sail. This morning we caught the bus out to Glacier Gardens, set up by a local couple who own a nursery in town and needed some more space for growing. A large part of the property is forested and part of the tour involves being driven 800 feet up a winding path through the forest to a lookout. A very pleasant morning!

The Gardens are famous for these upside down tree flower baskets! They were beautiful and very creative. Steve, the owner, created them after a landslide went through the property and he was doing some fixing up to stop resulting water damage. He had rented a bobcat to assist and on the very last day of its rental, crashed it, resulting in a few thousands dollars damage. He was so mad that he picked up a tree with it and rammed it into the ground. Voila! He then came up with the idea of beautifying them from there and then charging people to come to the nursery to look at them (to repay the damages!)

The path up to the lookout. The golf carts struggled a bit!

Gnarly trees!

After the gardens it was straight to the Alaskan Brewery for a few samplers. You get to taste 6 of the beers for nothing! It was excellent beer so we bought some to smuggle back onto the boat and after getting chatting to the young girl serving, I think we had more than our 6 free samples in the end. The brewery was started by a couple in their twenties and grew from backyard brewing….hmmm…..

We ended up running to get back on the boat in time!!!

Tonight was another formal night and after dinner we decided to have a little look in the casino. Well, it started with just looking. Matt got enthralled with the poker table, I think mostly because it was completely electronic – no dealer and no real cards! Dad’s poison of choice was roulette, while Mum and I became completely obsessed with a game that involved shooting quarters to try and win more quarters, and if you played long enough, $50 in one dollar bills stacked and teetering on the edge ready to fall into the bucket!!! No we didn’t win, but boy were we agro when the boys disappeared and we had run out of quarters, another lady jumped on the machine when we went to get more and got our money!!!!

Oh! And Mum and Dad had another awesome day, whale watching and taking a plane ride over the Medenhall Glacier. Mum and Dad have some great whale pics, which we shall put here when we get a copy!

Day 207 – The Belated Birthday

We sailed again last night and landed late this morning in Ketchikan, the last of the land stops before Vancouver. It was nice to have a sleep in as all this action was exhausting!

The boat parked at the end of the main street in Ketchikan!

It was raining when we hoped off the boat this morning, but that wasn’t going to stop us from escaping for a while! We walked across town to the Native Totem Centre to learn all about the Alaskan natives and their custom of carving huge totems for all kinds of reasons – even shame poles!

After that we went for a walk around Ketchikan near the harbour down a street “Married Mans Lane” where all the old school brothels were, Creek Street which is now all souvenir shops but built on a board walk over the water. There wasn’t much else happening around town so we went back to the boat for a feed, grabbed the laptop and reconnected with the world at a bar called The Asylym!

When we returned back to the boat for dinner, we had balloons and a sign saying Happy Birthday outside our door. On the website when we were booking our ticket, the booking questionnaire asked if we had any special celebrations while we were on board. We thought we should just say our anniversary was during the cruise to get free stuff, but it turns out you can celebrate any event 30 days before or after which legitimately included my birthday!

We were ready for dinner early, so we went to the Wheelhouse Bar first for cocktails and to listen to a Big Band play and then on to dinner. At dinner the celebrations continued, with Jorge and some other staff singing me Happy Birthday and making me the richest chocolate cake I have ever had.

The dessert that night was also special being a Baked Alaska and so all the chefs came out and did a dance around the dining room while we all waved our napkins! We finished up dinner with a yummy dessert wine and rolled to bed! On our way to bed though we heard some Aussie accents in the hallway. Of course the four of us turn around and say hi straight away and say how pleased we were given we hadn’t met any other Aussies. They were happy to and say to us “Well there are some other Aussies on the boat too, they sounds really interesting and have just come from South America and done this and that…” Matt and I chuckle and admit that that may be us!!! It turns out the Americans were listening after all – and word spreads fast!

Day 208 – Need new pants

Today was our last day of sailing before landing in Vancouver early tomorrow morning. Because we needed more food, there was a big cake show in the food court, followed by an “Iron Chef” style cook off between the Head Chef and the Matre D’ in the theatre.

Today was a pretty lazy day in the end, we did laps of the deck, read books and played mini golf!

Dad in his favourite spot, comfy chair looking out over the water.

We were sad to pack our bags that evening because it was so nice to have the same place to come back to each night, have our stuff spread out, our own bathroom and to not have to think about what to eat!!!! But we were also very excited about the next part of our trip.