roganjosh

I’m in Tahiti, which is blue skies and busy roads! I arrived in Papeete on a Saturday night to find a hot, humid little town full of gangs of people milling about on the streets and a couple of bars. On Sunday morning the place looked a lot more attractive under the blue sky, but unfortunately the entire place was shut! The only place I could find to get breakfast was McDonalds, where they advertised their foreign-ness by offering une croque McDo. I got out of Papeete to stay in a little hostel on the coast near a beach, which has been nice, but is a bit out of the way. The beach isn’t much to blog home about either, but the water was warm and clear. I think the resorts where the honeymooners stay must have taken all the sandy beaches. I’ve not gotten up to much because travelling anywhere is a bit of a mare – there’s no timetable for the buses and cycling involves getting onto a very busy road that circles the whole island; not to mention the heat! I think this is very much an island where you’re expected to rent a car if you want to go exploring or, more likely, not leave the comfort of your five star resort at all!

So the first two weeks in Japan were all about the food, but the last week was much more about fancy hotels and onsens. The fanciest of the bunch was probably the hotel in the middle of Shikoku where you could take a cable car down to bottom of the Oboke gorge and soak in an open air bath by the river. My personal favourite though was the hotel on Shodoshima where the boys’ bath was in a speedboat and the girls’ was in a yacht – both of which were on the roof of the hotel! Aside from the hot baths there was also plenty more feasting (because all the fancy hotels serve you banquets too), plenty of temples and train journeys and fish kites flying for the boys festival. We even managed to visit an olive grove! My last full day in Japan we spent on Miyajima, another of the top three most scenic places in the country and managed to get sunburnt hiking up to the top of Mount Mizen to get a stunning view of the inland sea. As usual travelling through Japan the list of places that I need to come back and see more of just grew and grew.

All that travelling was quite exhausting though, and by comparison my time in Sydney has been sedate. It’s been nice to have a pit-stop in an English speaking country so that I can get a few of my chores done – I was due a haircut and my shoes have been leaking a bit, that kind of thing. I even took advantage of being in a big city to go and see the new Star Trek film in IMAX! Hardly the most exciting of travelling stories I know, but I’ve been to Sydney a couple of times now, and I can never get very excited about the place! Anyway, I’ve headed a few beaches north of the city now to Collaroy to enjoy some sun and sand and listen to my spanish tapes in preparation for when the serious travelling gets underway! Hasta luego!

So it’s been a pretty foody time in Japan for the last two weeks travelling around with Tony. There’s been okonomiyaki, tempura, yakitori, katsu, sashimi, sushi, mori soba, kushiage and even some Mos burger action along the way, but the two most extravant meals were the Kobe beef in Kobe, and the kaiseki banquet we had in Tokyo. The Kobe beef was superb, it just melts in your mouth – so good we even had it the next day for lunch! The kaiseki meal was fantastic. Several courses of small dishes, each of which was surprising in its own way, either in the presentation or the combination of tastes. My favourite part was a tiny little cube that seemed to contain an entire compressed roast dinner.

Apart from food we had a pretty good time travelling around too. We made it to Osaka (and partied all night), Kobe and Kyoto, and even up to Amanohashidate – a sand bridge between the sea and a lake where you can see the bridge to heaven if you put your head between your legs and look back at the view. It does sort of look like a bridge… I also fulfilled a long time goal in coming to Japan and finally getting my picture taken with Domo-kun! If that means nothing to you then just google it, I’m not sure I could explain.

I’m travelling around Shikoku at the minute, and there’s a lot to see, so I’ve got to rush off now for the next train. So long!