South East Asia

Home to secret wars of the CIA. and today, photographs!



The guys look epic in Cambodia, watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat.

---

Myself and Laura acquire well being via incense smoke in Tokyo.

---

What time is it? Well it's Pabst o Clock! (also, cool 'stache, no?)

Fotos! Phinally!

The guys in front of a statue of Peter the great. (this picture - taken in Siberia)


Man on great wall of china, grinning.
(note gleam on head)

Japan (my chain of events), the current state of affairs re: Photographs.

So, having ditched Laura at Osaka station, myself and Sinead took off to Kyoto, cultural capital of Japan. We arrived, had a delicious lunch from Seven-Eleven, waited for the hostel to open, and decided the best way to see the town was by bike. (it's a flat enough city, there was readily available bicycle rental)

Now, when you don't know the rules of the road, it's very easy just to do what you would at home. Turns out - in Japan, it's highly illegal to cycle on the road. We didn't know this, and that's why we ended up pedalling like maniacs along a motorway. (in our defence, it didn't look like a motorway on the map)

Anyway, it got dark, and we figured we were dangerous enough by day, so we called it a night, retreated to the hostel, and spent the evening doing less and less flattering impressions of Mr. Shan.

The next day, in a perfectly timed example of 'you'll get your comeuppance' or 'the laugh will be on the other side of your face' He cornered me, about a hundred and fifty miles from where we'd last left him.

So while Sinead took off to Odate City to meet Laura & Louise. I headed south, down as far as Sera, to meet Gearoid (DUUUDE!) another chancer on the JET programme.

While in Sera, we did a lot of magic. (much easier when you speak a language your audience doesn't.)Picture the scene - a tiny Japanese bar, there's us, and a drunk Japanese Nurse...

Gearoid: Ok,pick a card
Drunk Japanese Nurse: Ah! *picks 3 of diamonds, shows it to me, puts it back in the deck*
Gearoid: Now I will guess your card! *does magic-ey movements*
Me: Dude, it's the three of diamonds.
Gearoid shuffles through the deck, pulls out the three of diamonds, Nurse explodes with amazement.

Gearoid and his friends also brought me to a tiny okonomiyaki place, run by a lovely japanese woman, who tried out all sorts of wierd and wacky japanese food on me. (it's a small town, not many white folks) Salted, fishy prune anyone?

So, after hanging out in Sera for a few days, having the craic, watching telly (up to speed on Lost & family guy now!) I hopped the ole'shinkansen (that's bullet train to you...non japanese folks) and headed for Tokyo.

---

Some of you may have notice a slight increase in the rate of posts. That's because we're in Bangkok, it's a million degrees, we're mostly a little wrecked from the night before, and there's air conditioned internet right down here near the swimming pool.

I've been working on trying to get photos up from here, but since I have to install drivers & can't reboot, it'll probably be later on.

---

The...uh...mormon issue. I'd like to clear that one up right now. As laura says, we were on our way to the halloween party, and I was wearing a 'fro wig. And this pretty girl next to me turns to me, smiles and says 'Happy halloween!'

Now, I don't normally check for Mormon badges, and I try like hell not to stare at girls chests when I'm talking to them. So that's how I...uh...missed the fact that I was chatting up an on-duty, returning from knocking on doors during her missionary work Mormon.

So Laura's telling of events is as usual, completely accurate.

---

Sinead's promised to do Tokyo!

now, breakfast! And we've a team talk this morning, we've to figure out where to go next.

Hallowe'en Hong Kong style

So there we were in Hong Kong, and it was Hallowe'en. I had read in a paper in some bar that there was to be a street party happening in some place called Lan Kwai Fong. Three wigs later (one black afro, one long pink style, and one wavy blue style) we were ready to go.

There being no flies on us, we had noticed on the metro station list a place called Kwai Fong. Aha, I thought, that's obviously where we want to go. So off we head with our lovely head gear (Sammy decided his own hair looked wig-like enough!). There were no other people wearing costumes on the metro, and Kwai Fong seemed to be in the back of nowhere, so long did it take us to reach there.

We weren't bored though. Oh no, Andy made sure of that. Sinead & I have been slagging Andy recently on how he's not the world's fastest mover where the opposite sex is concerned, so he said he'd prove us wrong...pity he chose a Mormon on the metro to try prove his point!

In his defence, he says he didn't see her badge. It was the funniest thing I've heard in ages however - I'm going to buy ringside seats for the next time he tries to woo a girl!

So he started his attack by asking whether she was going to this street party. Then proceeded to ask whether Kwai Fong was a bit of craic or not. Then asked whether she'd be in the humour to go drinking with us there. Then said we'd probably be having a few beers on the street. Then started talking about toilets in China and how horrible they were (she lived in Beijing at some point), and mentioned something about it being difficult to mime if there was a language barrier and you needed to know where the toilets were..So not only was he on a losing streak anyway what with trying to chat up a Mormon; he also throws toilets into the conversation for good measure!

Not surprisingly, Andy and the Mormon were not to get together. But the night wasn't finished yet. We got to Kwai Fong to find...nothing. No party atmosphere, no Hallowe'en costumes. One inquiry later we found that Lan Kwai Fong was close to the centre of town. What we had in effect done was the equivalent of hearing there was a Hallowe'en street party happening on Dublin Street in Longford, and head to Dublin for the main event!

We quickly recovered, got the metro back into town, and joined all the other costumed people. It seems a street party in Hong Kong is not a party on a street. We ended up joining the throng for a parade through the street of Lan Kwai Fong. We were part of the spectacle! And even though the only effort we had made was getting wigs, that didn't stop our popularity. I'm not sure how many times we had our photo taken on the night, but it was definitely around the 100 mark! It got to the point that we were almost posing before being asked, so used did we get to the camera! I suppose the fact that we'll never have to see the pictures made it easier. However, we are now gracing the pages of many picture albums in Hong Kong! Excellent.

So that sums up our Hallowe'en night - how was yours?

Japan

So we got to Japan, and with the help of the aforementioned Mr. Shan and two random Japanese ladies managed to get to the train station we needed.

It was here we were to split up for the first time since leaving, but also here that we realised our phones didn't work in Japan. (Funny, Japan isn't as techie as you'd think. I was expecting the cutting edge of all things technology, but no. Most people don't use electric kettles, most washing machines are cold water only, and it's nigh on impossible to get a cash machine to accept international cards unless you are smack bang in the middle of Tokyo. Credit cards? Forget using them. However, showing how strange the priority list is in Japan, almost everyone has a heated toilet seat with optional waterfall sounds!)

So anyway, Sinead & Andy were heading to Kyoto for the night, while I was planning on meeting Sammy and Marcus (past Wilsonian living in Japan) in Nagoya. Of course I didn't have contact details for anyone however, so I was in a bit of a pickle. One check of the e-mails later I found out Sammy had rented a Japanese phone for the week, so I got in touch with him on that and successfully bumbled my way to Nagoya.

One delicious meal (waiting for the first okonomiyaki restaurant to open in Dublin) and a short sleep later, it was off to Odate City for me to see Louise (another past Wilsonian living in Japan...the JET programme has been so useful for us!). Odate is way up north of the main island. I thought I would get to see some of the Japanese country side on the way...but of course I fell asleep! The Shinkansen is a very comfy train, what can I say more than that?

So I experienced Odate for the weekend. Louise was an excellent hostess, with a great mix of Japanese and Western food. She shared all of her friends for the weekend and I think we got something of a reputation there, showing up at one of the place's three pubs for three nights running!

Japanese food is really great - there was nothing I didn't enjoy. What I particularly miss are those rice cakes they sell in convenience stores...there's a market for them in Spar I reckon.

When the weekend ended it was back to Tokyo for a quick visit before flying to Hong Kong. The Japanese have a reputation of being friendly, and Sinead & I found this out when looking for our hostel. I was standing on the street with all the bags while Sinead went searching for our hostel. Without being asked, a man came up to see where I needed to go. He wasn't exactly sure where the hostel was, so out came the phone to call it and see. At which point Sinead returned, having found the place. Not to be stopped there the man inquired whether or not we intended going to Japan's south island, and offered us all a place to stay if we were!

I can't be bothered right now to describe Tokyo - perhaps someone else will give you a post on it soon...

Boats

So, after much chasing over Shanghai, we managed to book our passage to Osaka. a 2 day ferry trip. (by we, i mean me, sinead and Laura - Sam flew, he had a rendez vous with a certain italian girl)

The boat was brilliant - the only way to travel, as far as i'm concerned. There was karaoke! Picture the scene - Me and a nice isreali girl (who turned out to be an armed bodyguard!) belting out Africa by Toto, in front of an empty bar, in rough seas. As Laura put it: 'that's really why you came travelling'

My cabin mate turned out to be a nice elderly Japanese american chap by the name of Mr. Shan. Mr shan had been all over the world. And had stories about being all over the world. And views on the people he had met...all over the world. And, happily enough, he had a really easily imitatable voice! Hi-larious!

(As an addendum to the Mr. Shan - Two days later, I'd just dropped Sinead off at a train station, bought a nice solitary coffee, sat down with a good book, happy as a pig in...and, who do I hear, only the same endlessly talkative voice I'd been imitating the whole night before. 2 hours more of Mr Shan, in an exclusive Andy-only performance!)

So for the two days on the boat, the girls reverted to their natural state (pyjama-ed), and we vegged out like demons. Best way to travel, ever!

Tomorrow, Japan!

Tonight - please god no beer, pleeease!

(and to all our fans who want photographs- stay tuned, we have the technology! highlights include - the legendary halloween costumes, the great wall, various landmarks, and adventures in trick photography!)

China...as promised

Hi again all.

Apologies first of all for the lack of blogging about our trip in the last few weeks. To be fair though China didn't allow us to update it in the country. Better late than never though.

So, we arrived in Beijing from Irkutsk on a Friday morning, at about 5.30am. Of course we thought the city would be dead until later on...but no. Our hostel (Leo Hostel 2 - excellent) was on a very lively little hutong and business was brisk even at that time. We breakfasted on delicious dumplings at about 6am. We are all dumpling-ed out now, but it was the best food in the world at the time.

The early morning colour was a sign of what was to come. Beijing is dirty, smelly, lively, colourful, funny, and a great place to visit. It has an energy that hits you.

It took us a few days to get into the haggling, but once we started we loved it. We probably all agree that Sammy was the expert of the group, even managing to sell a CD himself at one point!

We checked out all the "must sees" of course. The Great Wall was probably my favourite. We got a bus there, and met a Canadian - Fred - on the way. Instead of choosing the cable car route to get up to the wall we chose to walk up the steps...big mistake. However, the wall was pretty great. We also saw other things - Chairman Mao's body, the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City. I'd tell you about it, but I'm not allowed....(sorry for the crap joke!)

After 5 days we set off for Shanghai. We had left it too late to get hard sleepers on the overnight train, so we got hard seats. How bad can it be we thought? Quite bad it turns out! We were a source of fascination for the Chinese people on the train. It was as bad as the Dublin - Sligo train, possibly worse, but we had to try and sleep on it as well.

We arrived in Shanghai a little worse for wear, but soon perked up. Shanghai is more Western than Beijing, much cleaner and with less spitting. We stayed in a great hostel where we met some more lovely people. (Hello Tyler & co.!)

I attended my first ever foam party in Shanghai, and went around for the next two days with damp money from being in my pocket.

Shanghai was more about having fun than seeing attractions, so we did. After five days however we were off to Japan by boat. More on this later as I have to go meet the guys for a few drinks on Khao San Rd. (I hope you're jealous!)

Stay well, and I promise to update you in a more organised and informative way soon!