If only we had internet in the hostel...

Well, we're in Ulanbataar for our final night in Mongolia. If you're wondering why there's been so few posts, it's because we've spent the last three nights in Gers, which are the portable housing used by Mongolian nomads... and also some of the Mongolians in the city too.

The countryside here is just rolling grassed plains with mountains in the distance. It's truly breathtaking. The Gers were comfortable and warm, we relaxed a lot, rode some horses, visited some temples, drank with our tour group and ate pretty decently too.

Prior to the Ger camps, it was a day and a half on the train from Beijing. The train was far more comfortable than I thought it would be and the scenery far, far more stunning than I could have imagined. I'm really looking forward to the three and a half days en route to Moscow. We get on the train tomorrow afternoon.

Well, that's the short version, hopefully there will be a long version soon-ish but it definitely won't be until Moscow, and might not even be until London (we arrive on the 6th).


N

Beijing

So we've spent the last 4 and a half days in Beijing. We managed to make it out to the great wall for a day which was probably the highlight of our time here. We also went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square which are pretty close to where we're staying. Here's a pic of part of the forbidden city. It was so packed and there are hardy any trees so it was really hot.

The area where we are staying has lots of Hutongs which are like alleyway things that Chinese people live in. They mostly don't have bathrooms so they all use the public toilets nearby(May you should never visit China), and tonight on our way home we saw a lady washing her hair on the street. It's a totally different world from the shopping areas set up close to the Olympic Stadium with just about every designer brand store you can imagine. We also have a sex shop next to the hostel which is just about the dodgiest shop you could ever imagine. It's about the size of a broom cupboard! The owner (and his kids and dodgy mates) hang out the front all the time. We're also pretty sure that the hotel we're staying in is running some sort of casino or brothel on the second floor. Very dodgy!

The traffic here is just ridiculous and apparently it's good at the moment because they've been cracking down due to the Olympics. On the way out to the great wall we (a bus) were overtaking other cars and buses around blind corners. Some of the guys at the front were filming it as it was unbelievable. Lucky for the bike lanes that the oncoming cars can drive into when they see a bus heading directly towards them! Anyway here's a picture of a bus doing a three point turn on a street while cars and bikes keep trying to drive around him.

We also sampled the local specialty which is Peking Duck. Here's a picture of Nathanael with the duck skin which you dip into sugar and then eat. Tasty!

The best thing about China though would have to be how cheap some things are, especially when you're in a dodgy neighbourhood like us. Anyway Nate got this bubble tea for 3 RMB which is about 45 cents. Bargain. Although we went to a flash new mall a few days before and i was charged 19RMB for a bottle of water!

We also met up with some expats at a bar the night before and they took us to this dodgy little restaurant down an alley. The meal for the four of us including a beer each was 68 RMB which is a little over $10.

Anyway we met up with our Vodkatrain group last night too. 6 English lads and 6 Norwegians (3 girls and 3 guys). Everyone seems really cool so it looks like it'll be a good trip. Tomorrow morning the train leaves at 7.45am and we should arrive at the border of China and Mongolia about 13-14 hours later. Apparently the crossing can take up to 5 hours so it could be a late night.

That's it for now. Hopefully next time you hear from me it'll be about riding yaks!

Osaka

So we spent our last couple of nights in Osaka and we managed to catch up with a couple of my Japanese friends Momoko and Kana. They took us to a cook-it-yourself Okinomiyaki place which was great. Here's some pics of us enjoying the delicious food.

Apparently writing your name with the mayo is the thing to do. Who am i to disagree!

After dinner we went and got crepes which are available everywhere!! And there's plenty of plastic display ones so you can see exactly what you're getting.

This is Nate getting a toy from a vending machine. It 's called a soundrop and it makes a sound from Super Mario Brothers. So if you know the sound that you hear when you're playing you'll know what i mean. He ended up buying a few! He got 'one-up', 'ouch', 'jump' and 'big'

Here's a picture of a very happy Nathanael with his new toy.

Oh yeah and we also saw a hot chip vending machine. Lucky you don't have one of those at Westnet Mary!!

Miyajima Island and Momiji Manju!!

So we took a trip out to Miyajima Island which is Japan's answer to Rottnest. Ok, so they have world heritage sites, but they also have some very friendly deer (very similar to the good old quokka). They also don't mind eating paper and souvenirs! Here's one of the locals trying to purchase a ticket.

The ferry trip from Hiroshima is only ten minutes but it feels a world away from the city centre. Miyajima is supposedly one of Japan's top three scenic locations and has one of the most famous Torii (gate to a shinto shrine) in Japan. It used to be that the commoners were not allowed on the island so to worship at the shrine they needed to go through the gate via boat. This torii looks as though it is 'floating' at high tide, but when the tide is out you can actually walk down to it along the mud.

They also have a mountain called Mt Misen and we caught a cable car to the top and had a wander around. There's monkeys that live up there too, but apparently they were out in the forest eating. They like souvenirs too. Anyway, we missed the last cable car so we walked back down the mountain in the ridiculous humidity. We were both soaking wet by the time we got back down!

While at the island we stayed at a traditional Japanese Ryokan (guesthouse/inn). We were greeted by our host Grandmother Fumiko who served us cold green tea and our first Momiji Manju on our arrival. Later that night after the hike down the mountain we were served a feast of Japanese food (see pics below).

This was to start. Sashimi, some seafood, cold noodles and tofu.


We also got a giant prawn.


Followed by "Japan's number one fish"

Followed by rice, pickles, Hiroshima beef and the most delicious miso soup I've ever had. It had lemon in in!

And for dessert some fruit. These grapes were selling at the Hiroshima train station for $30-$50 a bunch!! They taste just like plums! Nate reckons they are the best thing ever.

We also fell in love with the local sweet (each area in Japan seems to have their own unique sweet). Anyway, this one's called Momiji Manju and we skipped lunch one day just so we could sample some of the many flavours. It's a maple leaf shaped waffle/cake thing with a filling. They also make them everywhere on the island and you can watch the machines going all day long. It's so cool! The best thing was that they were served in air-conditioned comfort with ice cold tea as it was so humid outside. We managed to sample sweet red bean, chocolate, apricot jam, custard, apple and cheese(just coz we were curious)!

Nagasaki

So we headed down to Nagasaki for a couple of nights. Checked out the usual sites like the Atomic Bomb Museum, the Peace Park and the Hypocentre. As Nagasaki was a port city and did a lot of trade with Europeans this is the point where Christianity first entered Japan. This is the Urakami cathedral and was the largest cathedral in the Orient at the time. It took almost 30 years to build and was flatted in a few seconds when the bomb exploded over Nagasaki. It was rebuilt 14 years later.

This is the hypocentre. The black marker indicates where the bomb exploded over Nagasaki.

There are thousands of paper cranes around the hypocentre and filling the peace park and the museum. We also saw messages on the pebbles around one of the monuments.


The next day we made it out to the Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium. I'll post some pics of the actual penguins on Flickr. It was SO hot that day and you can see some people having a dip in the ocean behind Nathanael.

At night we had a wander through the many alleyways of Nagasaki and had a great and super cheap Japanese curry. Also observed the production of a "Cheese Curry". It's basically curry sauce with melted cheese over the top. Weird you say? Yes, we think so too, but when i questioned my Japanese friends about this, they couldn't understand what the problem was. haha

This is Nate's special curry - Pork Cutlet, Prawns and Chicken - All deep fried!

Before heading off we also checked out Dejima which is a reconstruction of Dejima Island that was an artificial island built for Dutch Merchants in the 1634. They have done a great job in reconstructing the buildings. It was a really interesting little town and we just wished we had more time to look around the exhibits.

Here's me with the model replica of the town.

And last but not least, this is Nagasaki's best kept secret. The most awesome flying fox in the world! So much fun!

Going back in time...

So we were without internet for a few days in Japan so we didn't post anything about a few places we visited. I know we're in China now, but we're having a day off from sightseeing and the choas of Beijing, so I'm going to fill you in on our last 5 days in Japan. I hope that's ok!

A quick glimpse of The Great Wall

We hiked 10km of the wall today, from Jinshanling to Simatai. It was a three hour drive there, a 4 hour hike (with a flying fox at the end!) and a 3 hour bus drive, stop for another mini bus in our tour that had broken down, and crazy taxi ride back.

We're tired. I'm not going to write anymore except to say, I hope you like the photo.

Beijing: First impressions

So Beijing had a tough time convincing me of it's wonderfulness right from the get-go.

Last night was our last night in Japan, so we had a couple of drinks and ended up at Karaoke. Needless to say that when we had to get on a plane with a large group of Chinese students returning home, we were not in the best of moods.

Even though I'm prepared to admit that fatigue, a hangover and humidity make me a trifle persnickety, Beijing is the craziest place I could have imagined. The traffic, the people and the smells have not made a wonderful first impression.

But, the hostel has all the necessities, also it's in a very good location, everything is really cheap and we have arranged to go to the Great Wall tomorrow which I'm sure will redeem the chaotic impressions of day one. Stay posted for photos!!

Collectibles and Cute Stuff

So Japan is crazy about collectibles. Every place we visit has a kewpie doll dressed up as the local baseball team, with the local icon or even dressed as the local delicacy or delicious sweet. I bought a couple of Kewpie dolls at an awesome shop called Tokyu Hands. They come in sealed packages so you don't know what you are getting. I chose the animal series (series 1.5 that is!) and got one Leopard and one Rabbit. There was also a vegetable series and and a fruit series too. Cute!

We also saw models of designer chairs in the same collectible area (maybe your kinda thing Sarah!). Needless to say there were heaps of other options too.

They also seem to love owls as there are hundreds of the things in all shapes and sizes. Apparently they are lucky, not to mention pretty cute. So here's the owl that we bought. His name is Mr Owl and you might see him popping up in photos from time to time. He's a very adventurous owl:)

Mister Donut

This one's for my brother and Neil. Their favourite thing in Japan was Mister Donut. Here's some pictures of us enjoying Mister Donut in Tokyo. Donuts aren't really my thing (i mean we all know it's what homeless people eat) so i wasn't that keen, but i will say that I enjoyed the Angel Cream (thanks for the tip Neil) but Nathanael preferred the French Angel Cream.

Divine Inspiration

I'm assuming that most of us are familiar with the plastic spoon that comes with rice cookers and is used to serve the rice. Well, we've just spent two nights on a little island near Hiroshima (Miyajima Is.) and it claims to have invented this spoon. The story is that a monk dreamt the design of the spoon and taught the islanders to make the spoon.

So there you go, next time you're using a rice spoon, thank a late Japanese monk and whichever Deity you care to attribute his inspiration to.

Oh and the Islanders have made the world's biggest rice spoon too
see below.

ra-mu-ne

Ok so we've been really busy, sorry about that. New photo's up soon we promise. But here's your next challenge. The photo to the left is of a bottle of lemonade ("ra-mu-ne") but what flavour is it I hear you ask? Well, that's for me to know and you to work out. May I suggest maybe trying to translate? It's a word that's been Japonified e.g. "Lemonade= ra-mu-ne", but maybe a little easier.

When you work it out, yes we did buy it, and it wasn't too bad, either.

Update: Jon has worked it out! Well done dad :-) For all you who are to lazy to check the comments to see his answer, it is indeed Curry Lemonade. Mmm-mm.

Hooray for May!

Well done May, it was indeed an egg mould... you crack your egg into it and put the whole thing into boiling water, giving you a Miffy shaped boiled egg. We will let you know how they taste at a later point in time. Laura suggests they will just taste like eggs. I doubt her assessment.

Mystery Object Competition

So ladies and gentlemen, we have a competition. Yes these are cute plastic Miffy character plastic things, but I bet you'll never guess what they're for (unless you can read Japanese). So, leave a comment with your best guess and I'll tell you the answer tomorrow.

Himeji Castle enroute to Fukuoka

So on our way down to Fukuoka we stopped off at the town of Himeji which is the home of Himeji Castle, a world heritage site and one of the most visited castles in Japan. Pretty cool as far as castles go i guess.


Then we caught the train to Fukuoka which is where we were staying that night. Fukuoka is in the North of Kyushu (which is the south island of Japan). Anyway, enough about Geography. We stayed at a "business hotel" and i got free socks! And Nate got a free face washer thing. Cool hey.

It gets better... Then we saw half naked men! They were training for a big race they had to compete in at 4.59am the following morning. It's part of a festival called Yamakasa where the men race against other teams carrying huge floats. During festival time it's common to see them getting around in the traditional outfits. Bonza.

Fukuoka is known for being quite a multicultural city. So we went and had Ethiopian food for dinner. It was quite tasty although one of the curries did have a suspiciously Japanese taste to it. Oh and the salad had olives?!



And just because i thought this was cool... The Lion King is showing around Japan at the moment so we've been seeing advertising everywhere:) cute hey?

Kyoto - Day 3 - Arashiyama

Ok, so we're getting behind already! This is day 3 in Kyoto and we decided to go back to the Arashiyama area as it was so beautiful. We took a 2 hour boat cruise down the Hozu river from Kameoka (turtle hill) back in to the main town of Arashiyama which is where we saw the cormorant fishing. Anyway, here's some pics...



oh and then we climbed a freakin mountain in the super-humid summer heat to go and visit some monkeys at the monkey park. It was pretty cool though. Here's a picture of us with a monkey. I'll post some more on Flickr. There was heaps of babies and also lots of them were doing bombies in the pond. It was so cute!!!

Lxxx