More Ueno

Because this was my first visit to Japan, the first couple of days were full of discovery. Ueno was where I discovered the best convenience store food in the world and started the practice of eating breakfast onigiri from 7 eleven or equivalent every day. Must be one of the best $1.50 breakfasts available anywhere! Oh and hot coffee in a can from vending machines.




I also found that Japan was a lot less difficult to get around than I had imagined it might be in some respects. Despite a complete lack of Japanese, we managed to navigate our way around and communicate with people as much as we needed to.

But it was also hard to interact with some of the more uniquely Japanese culture - like the maid cafes. On our first full day in Japan we wandered into Akihabara, the electronics district of Tokyo where huge multi level video gaming centers dot the streets and where young (looking) girls line the footpaths handgun out flyers for cafes where you pay an hourly fee for some coffee and conversation. I would have loved to hear what kind of conversation $10 an hour buys you, but sadly I think it's all conducted exclusively in Japanese. Probably would have felt a bit creepy to pay someone to talk to you...

It's intriguing to look around Akihabara at all the images of women on billboards, posters, even life sized 3D dolls who look nothing like any of the Japanese women I saw. Not one woman looked like those images... I wonder how Japanese women feel about it.

In contrast to the pop culture of Akihabara, we also visited Tokyo National Museum next to Ueno Park. It's a pretty good museum with lots of historical stuff - and very reasonably priced like all the tourist attractions we visited. But the best part were the gardens at the back - absolutely gorgeous gardens with some traditional buildings, a lake and cherry blossom petals falling like snow. An incredibly peaceful place despite all the other people.

We did also check out a department store in Ueno, the best part being the food hall in the basement, which provided dinner one night - amazingly beautiful sushi platters, fish, meat, sweets. A feast for the eyes!

Ueno, Tokyo

The first three days of our Japan trip were spent in the Ueno area in Tokyo.
By way of background, this trip was a little undercooked in terms of planning and preparation. In fact, we had no intention of visiting Japan this year until we heard about some very discounted tickets (on Jetfail) from a friend of my mother. They had purchased some tickets they couldn't use, so suddenly we had a trip to Japan!
I think if I'd planned the flights, I would have flown into Tokyo and out of Osaka - but the flights we took over were in and out of Tokyo and frankly I could not be bothered stuffing around with the tickets so we kept them as they were. We did buy a 7 day Tokyo rail pass before leaving Melbourne and had decided on the following itinerary: 3 days in Tokyo to chill out, train to Kyoto and spend 7 days in Kyoto region (including 2 nights in a ryokan in Uji), then train back to Tokyo for 7 more nights.
So the first three days of the trip were intended to be spent in Tokyo chilling out and decompressing to get into the Japan vibe. We chose some no-frills accommodation in Ueno, Tokyo because it was directly on the line from Nakita airport without knowing much about the area.
Turned out we chose very well. Firstly, the Candeo hotel in Ueno was perfect for a three day stay. A small, but well thought out and comfortable room. Amazing vending machine with huge 500ml Asahi cans for $2 (a big hit with Phil) and free English movies on the in-room tv - what more could you want??
But the best aspect of the hotel was its proximity to the glorious Ueno Park, which was a mere 5 min walk away. It turns out, that Ueno Park is one of the best cherry blossom viewing locations in Tokyo. And when we arrived (March 28), the blossoms were not only in full bloom, but blossom petal snow was falling whenever a stiff wind blew through.
It was absolutely gorgeous to walk around the park and see the blossoms. And to see what felt like the whole suburb come out to see them too. People were taking picture after picture of the pink haze in the treetops and hundreds of others were picnicking on tarpaulin's with lots of friends, cute bento boxes and lots and lots of booze.
Beer, sake, spirits lined the edges of countless blue tarps. It was such a fantastic people watching opportunity! The park is absolutely huge and includes a massive lake, a zoo, boulevards of cherry blossom trees and (during our visit) outdoor food stalls and markets - takoyaki - yum!!

Japan 2013; v.1

Japan 2013, v.1 was not a trip that could go by without blogging. I've dubbed this v.1 because I loved it so much, I could seriously imagine going back again this year. May not happen, but you never know...

Anyway, for the first time ever, GOMP aka Phil (who to be fair wasn't very grumpy on this trip) let me take over as chief photographer - or at least photographer in charge of the fancy pants camera (a Nikon D3S named Uma). So I expect the photos may not be quite up to scratch, but we'll see. In typical fashion, we arrived back home on Sunday afternoon and were already back at work on Monday, so apart from some rudimentary unpacking, nothing has been done with photos - or purchasing milk etc...

This trip took in Tokyo (10 days), Kyoto (4 days), Uji (3 days) and Nara (1 night) and luckily was smack bang in the middle of cherry blossom season so we got to walk under canopies of cherry blossom trees and through a shower of cherry blossom petals - like snow but without all the wet, cold parts.




Ueno park







Imperial garden, Kyoto

Despite the first couple of days being all about the cherry blossoms (and I'm thinking you really do have to visit in cherry blossom season) there's so much more, I'd almost forgotten about them by the end of the trip!

Blog revived!

Sitting and watching the sun set over Kota Kinabalu, East Malaysia during cocktail and canapé hour - I think I'm in heaven. Or at least this is a strong contender for the title of "ultimate bliss" in my imagination.

We arrived in KK yesterday afternoon to a warm blast of tropical air with ten days ahead of us. I finished up at work (for good) on Thursday afternoon and by Thursday night (or 1.05 am Friday morning to be exact), I was on a plane headed for one of my favourite places - Malaysia. This is our third trip to KK, the first being the time we got married - which was a pretty action packed trip with loads of people and stuff to do.

The second trip was the polar opposite - it came just after a particularly hectic few months and I was feeling pretty tired. We went snorkelling at the nearby islands and took a day trip to Mt Kinabalu. But I also recall spending large amounts of time sleeping and sitting curled up in a big leather armchair in the Club lounge reading.

Borneo, where KK is located, has heaps of things to see and do. It's particularly famous for the rainforest interior, orang utan population and other wildlife. But I don't think we'll head out of the city on this trip - which is exactly what I'm up for. Sometimes it's awesome to be all adventure-y, but I also love trips where you just drop into another city and wander around fairly aimlessly. I think we will do a couple of trips out to the islands to snorkel, but I'm most looking forward to walking down the boardwalk, watching a couple of movies at the local cinema and going to the market.

I had been looking forward to sitting by the pool in the sun with a cocktail in hand for months, which I managed to achieve yesterday afternoon. It's amazing how something you're so looking forward to can be sated in 10 minutes or less!! Or is that a 14 hour journey to East Malaysia, plus 10 minutes... Anyway, the Singapore sling hit the spot and instantly transported me to the coveted "holiday mode"!

So far today we've managed breakfast, a stint in the gym and lunch of extremely delish pork noodles. We did also get to the movies this afternoon and watched Taken 2 in a room full of Malaysian teenagers - it had quite a few violent scenes which strangely the crowd found hilariously funny... I think the movies here are censored for sexual content, so action and horror flicks are on heavy rotation as a result. I think tomorrow our choices are a Nic Cage movie about kidnapping and a Chinese action-adventure! Woo hoo!!

Because the last few weeks of work were pretty hectic, I didn't sit down and pack in one go - I sort of threw things at the suitcase on a few occasions and hoped for the best. So, I ended up with a bit of a mixed bag. So far I realised that I've got my camera but no charger and no do-hickey that allows me to move photos from the camera to the iPad (and then onto the blog). Probably forgot a couple of other things too, but I guess when your only plans are to wander around the streets, watch a couple of movies, eat some beef noodles and drink some cold milo (they sell it everywhere) not too much can go wrong!

Happy weekend wherever you are!

- Posted with a Bacardi and ginger ale in hand

Location:Jalan Tun Fuad Stephen,Kota Kinabalu,Malaysia

The end

 

Ah, it's been awhile. I realise I never wrote a final travel blog post - I meant to. I was going to write one when we got back from Singapore, but the return home to Melbourne was all a bit chaotic and overwhelming and as time passed it seemed more and more arbitrary to end the blog on a random Thursday in Melbourne. 

But today seems like a fitting time to give this blog its final post. Today is the very last day of what turned out to be a seven month break from everyday life and work and an opportunity to live in an unstructured way for a while. Tomorrow I go back to work and "normal" life resumes.

Do I think "normal" life will have fundamentally changed now that I've had a complete break - will my approach to everything have altered? I don't think so. I'll go back to work and probably approach things much the same way as I have in the past, but having learned a few things which I hope I'll keep in mind. Like no holiday is long enough, so it's important to make everyday life as enjoyable as possible, because you can't fit a lifetime of fun into six months. Also, it's very easy to lose perspective when your focus is narrow - the horizon looms so large and wide when you're not caught up in day to day dramas. Little lessons, but important ones. Just have to put them into practice - not always so easy!

The last six weeks or so have flown by in a total haze. There are some major milestones - we painted the house, did a complete overhaul of all our stuff, gave away carloads of things, bought some new ones, saw friends and movies and some comedy. I took Phil to Apollo Bay for his birthday and saw trees filled with koalas. It was lovely. I could probably find ways to pass the time in this sort of leisurely, unstructured way ad infinitum. But it doesn't work like that. I didn't finish a whole lot of things on my list, but that's ok. I'll save it all up for the next time we decide to take six months off!!

Until then...

Selamat tinggal, auf wiedersehn, ciao, au revoir, farewell.

On our last leg....

It's the last few days of what I initially dubbed "mega trip" and we are in Singapore, spending our time wandering about before coming home. We are in Asia's shopping mecca, blessed by an almighty Australian dollar... and cursed by overfilled bags and no real need for anything.

I wrote a lovely post about our final day in Bali, but the Internet gods decided not to publish it - twice. And my patience for typing the same thing out a third time vanished. But I can tell you that our last day in Bali was really lovely. We had one last breakfast at Warung Ocha (Phil had his favourite burger), went for a swim, a walk and a massage. No last sunset on the beach because it was pouring with rain, but I had insisted on three beach sunset evenings during our last week, just in case we missed the last one. Actually the whole last week in Bali felt very relaxing - like a good wind down to the trip.

It seemed fitting that in rained non-stop on our last day in Bali. Today, while sitting in the Marina Bay Sands shopping mall, drinking a coffee, the strap of my (fairly new and really nice) Havianas broke. I was seriously just sitting in a booth, not moving when *ping* - I was suddenly wearing broken footwear. It's as though the universe was saying, "you no longer need thongs, Bali is over and it's time to go back to the real world where people wear proper shoes". I was briefly barefoot, hobbling around the mall, but soon found some black Melbourne-appropriate shoes. You could wear them to work, Phil said. It's true, I could - but I haven't thought about what to wear to work in a while.

I was definitely a bit sad to be leaving Bali, or more to be ending this trip. But I'm happy to be coming home. I missed stuff - my place, friends, family, the cat (will she know who we are??). I think if this trip has shown me anything, it's that no amount of time away is ever truly enough. But I don't think the answer is going away for longer. I would be happy to come home and find everything just as we left it, which is a good thing, I think.

We haven't got much planned for Singapore - just wandering around a bit. Yesterday we went to Orchard rd and looked at shops and watched a movie called Safe House - unsurprisingly not up for Oscar contention. Although, while we're on that topic - Bradd Pitt nominated for Moneyball??? WTF - did they actually watch that movie - ugh...

Tomorrow we might walk to Little India and look around. Maybe go to Clarke Quay for some seafood for dinner?? Singapore always feels like a place you end up in again and again, so I never feel like I need to see much here. Perhaps some inspiration will strike tomorrow??

Location:Kallang Rd,Singapore,Singapore

Tropical island crisp

In the last post, we had just arrived on idyllic Nusa Lembongan after a non-eventful boat ride from Bali.

On our second day on Nusa Lembongan, we arranged to head out for a day of snorkeling with a local fisherman/ tour guide. There are a few spots around Nusa Lembongan and the neighboring island, Nusa Penida, which have fantastic snorkeling.

It was an amazing day - beautiful weather, sailing around the islands - our first stop was Crystal Bay on the coast of Nusa Penida. You jump straight off the boat into the water, so the water is deep, absolutely crystal clear and filled with bright colorful fish. It's a pretty popular spot, so there were many other snorkelers around. We paddled around for 45 minutes or so and then reboarded for our next stop.

We were lucky in our second location to be the only ones there and surrounded by hundreds of different kinds of fish. Especially since our well-meaning captain threw bread in the water once we were submerged, attracting a huge species of fish with big teeth which scared the crap out of the other fish... And me. Phil was cracking up in the water as I attempted to 'hide' from the giant mutant fish in the water behind him, only to realise that there were others coming from all directions!

Once a few other groups turned up, we went to our last destination and saw more amazing fish (including a pink and yellow fluoro fish, dubbed 80s fish by me) and coral. On our way back, our tour guide's day was made when we passed huge stunned fish floating in the water. He grabbed it with his bare hands, unceremoniously dropped it in the bottom of the boat and continued on with a huge smile on his face - that was his dinner sorted.

It was a fantastic day and we finished it off with a sunset dinner at a place called Sandy Bay. Very tropical island, no?

Well, that was pretty much all we did on Nusa Lembongan for the whole trip because by dinner, I'd realized that both Phil and I were burnt to a crisp. Especially me. Oh my god. Soooo sore. Sooooo dumb! We did sunscreen at the start of the day, but clearly not enough. It was THREE nights before I could lay down on my back at all. So there was a lot of sitting around for the next few days... But it was lovely and relaxing despite how little I did! That being said, I'm still all red :(

And now we're back in Bali for three more days. This morning we had 'one last' Babi Guling (suckling pig) for breakfast (yup, breakfast). The last two nights have been spent on the beach on huge beanbags to watch the sunset. I never get sick of it.

It's almost impossible not to feel sad that the adventure is almost up, but it is... We actually thought we might be stuck here this week. We had given our passport to a visa agent to get an extension on our 30 day visas three weeks ago and were promised they would be returned on the Friday before we left for Nusa Lembongan. But they weren't ready on Friday or Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. By Thursday we were starting to panic. Especially when they told us that we wouldn't get it until Friday because immigration would not release the passports.

Phil thought quickly and told them that while we understood that dealing with Indonesian immigration was difficult, if we didn't have the passport by 5pm, we would need to report it to the embassy and police, otherwise we'd be stuck in Indonesia. We had the passports back by 4.30pm. Go Phil!

Hopefully the only challenge remaining is how many massages I can fit into the remaining three days in Bali. I'll keep you posted.