Reality TV - a Tedious Vacuum

Hello Britain!

Well I've been back over a week, and what a strange week it's been. Seeing all my family there to meet me at the airport when we finally landed was great. I've been missing Australia a lot though, especially with such a grinding halt back to reality.

Anyway, back to this week. On the Thursday morning I went into work to say hello, and as it turns out they're cutting down hours there. So the likelihood of returning to my old job is painfully slim. Therefore, the majority of my time back at home has been spent on the hunt for a new job! And since my career in retail has been cruelly taken away from me (!) I've embraced it as an opportunity to try something new. On the Friday I enquired about a job behind the bar at Inkaa Tapas Restaurant in Horwich, and bagged it at the interview! So I'm now working there on Friday nights for now and Saturdays as well from the 23rd. However, it's only 9 hours a week so I'm still on the hunt for something full time for during the day. Being unemployed is just the last thing I need really!

On a lighter note, I had a blast over the weekend. On Saturday I met up with Lauren and we had lunch in town at a fab little cafe in St Andrews Square called 'Loungers'. We had a good catch up and it was great to see her - I missed her over those three months away. I also bought an afro wig for my Mum's 70s disco 40th birthday party on Saturday. I really wanted a Jackson 5 stylee wig, but in fairness it looks rather Harry Enfield Scouseresque. But nevermind. It looks good with my outfit!

On Saturday night we all (Me, Claire, Lauren, Sam, Josie and Joanne) went to Viva Espana Tapas Bar in Horwich for tea. It was absolutely delicious, and probably the first time in ages I've been out for tea and not felt bloated! But I'm not sure that's a good thing - perhaps my stomach's just stretched! Afterwards we moved onto Wigan for drinks and cavhorting. We went in Walkabout first, and I was delighted to find that they sell Tooheys and VB (Aussie Beer) there! I could indulge in my Tooheys and Coke! Fab! Unfortunately though, the night was cut short at about 1:30am, as the fact that I've worn only flat shoes for three months got the better of me in my heels. I seriously couldn't walk!

The rest of the week has been spent in various fashions really, but the prodominant themes have been job searching, dog walking, and daytime tv watching (Trisha - I'm sorry to say - is getting tedious!). I have had my days of doing other things though. On Monday me and Mum went around all the charity shops in Horwich and compiled a wicked costume for Matthew (for Saturday), and on Thursday it was Mum's birthday so I tagged along (or rather chauffeured so Mum could drink) for a birthday dinner at Barocco's Italian Restaurant in Egerton. It was lovely - I had seafood pizza and felt very full afterwards. But not full enough to pass up on chocolate fudge cake and ice cream for afters!

That's about it for now! So my present status is fretting about not yet having Camp America to look forward to (still not heard back or know if I've got a placement), having no job and being a grand in debt! But hey, you gotta think positive eh? I'm sure it'll turn out right in the end! I'm looking forward to Mum's party on Saturday and trying to take one day at a time. I'm sure I'll be reet. And if I can I'll try and post some pictures of the party, since we've gone all techno and bought a digital camera!

Cheerio for now!

Kansai Airport - Last Post from Overseas!

Hey Everyone!

Airport shopping in Japan leaves much to be desired (I am now without a japanese magent for Mum and sweets for David and Matthew) so I've decided to post instead!

Looking forward to just getting on the plane now and heading home - it will be nice to spend more than a few nights in one place again! Getting the train out of Osaka was easy enough this morning, but it was absolutely jam-packed at the station. It seems everyone opts to commute by train here! And there was loads of people wearing white masks over their noses and mouths, something I've noticed a lot in Japan. My phrasebook tells me this is a sign that the perpetrator has a cold or hayfever and does not wish to spread germs. I'd have thought it had something to do with the pollution here.

The train ride was ok, but the smog over Japan as we left the mainland over the bridge to the island airport was really horrible. You couldn't even see past the coast. I can't explain it cos I've never seen anything like it. It made me feel extremely concerned about the sort of air I've been breathing whilst being here.

Anyway, I must go and catch my flight as we'll be boarding soon. I'm not really looking forward to twelve and a half hours of sitting down - especially since I've just maxed out on beef noodles and strawberry pockys for breakfast!

I think I'll go and have a last hunt in the shops first, just to make sure! See you in Blighty soon!

The Cultural Town of Kyoto and Bustling City of Osaka

Kombanwa!

Hello again all! Just thought I'd relay all the stuff that's been going on today so I can relax at the airport tomorrow!

Well, we set out this morning to find some breakfast in Kyoto, to discover that the food court wasn't open until 10am (we were up unusually early this morning!). So we wandered into the train staion with the hope of somehow finding train times to Osaka for this afternoon. We managed to get them off a nice lady at the ticket information desk. I've been trying to use my incy-wincy bit of Japanese knowledge and odd English words, and pointing at maps and symbols etc to try and communicate with people, while Claire has been reeling off complex English sentences to people and completely confusing them! She was shouting "Excuse me!" to this woman at the information desk, who only turned around when I said "Sumi-masen?" (Excuse me?). Claire was like, quietly, "Well done Christina"!

We grabbed some breakfast at a deli/pattisserie looking cafe in the station. I think I had a tuna croissant and an egg croissant but I can't be sure! And something that looked like an English muffin but tasted like croissant with dairylea. Hmm. Next we wandered back towards the hostel to get the bus to Kyoto's East Side, where all the temples are. Claire was there asking the poor old Japanese lady behind us on the bus "Do you have to go up to the driver to buy a ticket? Do you pay when you get off?", and I can't say I was surprised when she replied "No Engliss." We managed with my handy phrase book - I said "Onegai-shi-mass?" (Please?) to the driver whilst pointing at the sign for a day ticket (which I only recognised cos it had 500Yen on it!) and although he seemed eager to get us off the bus he understood what I meant!

We got off at Gojazaka and made what we thought was our way to a place called Kiyomizu Temple, but in fact, due to our only having a city transport map we didn't arrive there at all until much later! Instead, we had a lot of fun exploring the little side streets of Kyoto without the aid of a map and having no idea what we were seeing along the way! Looking at the map now I think we ran into Yasaka Pagoda, the first fancy structure that we saw - I thought that was a temple but evidently not. It was a very pretty and tall pagoda at the top of a small street with equally small and quaint houses - it was made of brown wood and had about 5 tiers. We stopped at a newsagents nearby and got a drink (where I tested out my "Arigatos" and "Konichiwas"! (Thankyous and Good Afternoons). I shouted to Claire to come outside and check out these guys pulling carriages of people like a pack horse (I think their Sunday name is a 'tuk tuk') when she knocked over a box of chewing gum with her rucksack. It was funny.

Next we walked along a road which looked like it would host a market every once so often, which had steps leading up a hill on one side. We walked up to investigate, and I stumbled and fell over with shock over seeing this HUGE Buddha's head emerging on the horizon of the hill. Claire was like: "Ooh are you alright?" and I said "Yeah - I've just seen that!" and pointed. She gasped as though she'd just seen King Kong! It was, in fact, Ryozen Kannon Temple, a shrine to the unknown warrior in WW2. Despite this being hugely unpatriotic we simply had to go and have a look, and it was in fact a temple with a collossal concrete Buddha poised on top of it in the meditation position. The buddha was actually 24 metres tall (not including the temple below it), it's face being 6m tall and it's eyebrows 30cm. That's how big it was! We put some incense in the pit outside the temple and wandered around. There was a huge pond in the middle of the courtyard with Japanese Koi fish in it. Then there was loads of mini shrines, and a display of buddhas for each Chinese Year (of the dog, of the rat, etc) inside the Buddha, which you got to through an entrance in it's backside. Believe it or not!

Next door was Kodaji Temple ("sponsored by Hiatchi"), where there was an abundance of Japanese people taking photographs. It seems even Japan itself is not without it's Japanese tour groups! From here we wandered through the streets and past the little shops. Most of them sold trinkets like little purses, fans, and pots. They also had sweet shops selling that pink dough stuff we had on the plane, but in a variety of colours. It seems truly popular here actually! It's funny too - no matter how polite you try to be by speaking a few words of the native language you will always have people who really enjoy trying out their English on you! In one shop where we bought some postcards, the shopkeeper kept coming out with random things like "How are you?" in the middle of me paying! Then we pointed to my carrier bag carrying my dinner and said "Aah - Instant Noodles!" I'm not sure what his intent was there!

I couldn't stop taking photos of the streets - they were like the Japanese equivalent of the Shambles in York! By shear luck we came upon a busy shopping street, and decided to walk up the hill on one side of it and walk back down on the other side. In doing so we came across the Jishu Shrine and Kiyomizu Temple right at the top, which were beautifully ornate, bright orange pagodas overlooking a blooming garden of pink blossom trees. Walking up the steps, you got a vast view over Kyoto, and the presence of a thick, looming smog over the city was deeply disturbing. An obvious grey haze shadowed the city like nothing I've ever seen before. There were mountains in the distance but they were anything but clear, and it was the clearest, most sunniest day to be looking out to the horizon. It was truly shocking.

We walked back down to the main road, stopping at a hot food vendor for a snack. She was selling fish cakes by way of sausage shapes on sticks, and there was an irresistable 'Octopus and Perilla' flavour, which I opted for with zeal (I've no idea what Perilla is, for all I know I'm allergic, but it tasted great all the same!). After more browsing of the shops we got the bus back to the hostel to make our Aah - Instant Noodles.

Pretty much straight after we were on the train to Osaka. Getting around the station was annoying as it's not very well signposted even if it is in Roman letters too, and we thought all the ticket machines were in Japanese only (which we later found out that they're not - we just never had the balls to go and have a look!). We managed to get to Osaka Station in 30 minutes, though we had to stand up as it was busy and an express service. On arrival at the station we had to get a subway on the Midosuji Line, which was also poorly signposted (it seems that nothing is signposted until you're within 5m of it!). By this time I was getting very flustered and ratty as my bags (all 5 of them - Claire's carrying my souvenir one) are really heavy! My bag and legs are now a wreck!

We eventually got the subway to the Nakatsu district of Osaka, which took approximately 30 seconds! However, once out of the station we could not for the life of us find our hostel. We wandered into a 7/11 for help, who then relayed us to the police station (cos he thought they'd be better not cos he thought us suspicious or anything untoward!). At the police station a guy led us outside and for one fleeting moment I thought we were getting a ride in a police car, but as it turned out he was just giving us directions. The hostel was actually about a minutes walk from the subway station - down a tiny back street that we'd obviously missed.

The hostel is tiny - one dorm with 10 beds - and it's really authentic with sliding doors, bamboo blinds, with paper walls and shades and stuff. Very cosy. We set out to find somewhere to eat around 6pm, looking in the convenience stores for souvenir snacks first. In one store Claire wanted to use the ATM, which of course, had all its instructions in Japanese, and trying to get the shop girls (who were about 16 and spoke no word of English) to understand that she wanted 5000 Yen was hilarious. We got nowhere, needless to say. Luckily, there was one just down the road in the post office with a much-needed "English Help" button.

We found a quaint little eatery for tea, chosen by the delicious-looking pictures in the window. The waitress greeted us and bowed down while raising her arm forward as if to welcome us inside, but I thought she was pointing at Claire's shoes, wanting her to take them off! After a little misunderstanding we were seated and immediately presented with a complimentary glass of water. She gave us a menu, and to our horror there was not one word or symbol of English on the page. She pointed to one area which she said was rice so we ordered the cheapest of those each, and then chose the remainder of our meal from a special deals menu of small meal dishes as it had pictures on it! The chefs were laughing behind the counter as we ordered, so when the meal came I resisted the temptation to request a knife and fork and proudly attempted to use the chopsticks, which Claire and I both exceeded in. We did extremely well, and you could tell from the looks on their faces that they were disappointed they couldn't bet on who would end up with the most food down their fronts! The waitress was stood right over my shoulder, which was extremely off-putting, but it became evident that she was merely waiting for me to reach the half-full point on my glass of water so that she could rush right over and fill it back up for me! We also got free soup, which was nice!

Anyway, the whole day has been great, quite simply! One thing that's struck me is that it's extremely refreshing to have people going out of their way to help you out, even though they don't speak your language. Those girls at the ATM stayed with us trying to figure some sort of communication out until we gave up, not them. I've found Japan to be a very hospitable country and I'd love to come here again for a longer stay someday.

Well I must go as we have an early start tomorrow. Also, Claire has yet to write her blog and I'm hogging the computer. I can't believe my next post will probably be from England and I'll be home tomorrow. I'm looking foward to it now!

Turning Japanese! Or at least starting to feel it...

Ohayo gozai-mass!

We've arrived safely in Japan! The flight went surprisingly quickly actually. We had a weirdo dish of grilled fish, pasta and shrimps for dinner on the plane, with the usual noodles, salad, roll and butter, crackers and cheese and an intriguing Japanese sweet (this time it was a ball of pink jelly-dough, rolled in icing sugar and filled with some weird sweet purple stuff). I watched Shark Tale and a Japanese film called University of Laughs (about some playwright and censor who go head to head over the approval of a play in WW2 Japan and end up becoming best mates and all that). I read some of my book, Memoirs of a Geisha (I finished Lovely Bones this morning) which is quite appropriate as it's set in Kyoto! Then before I knew it they were serving up the supper of ham and cheese croissants and we were soon due to land!

Once we arrived in Osaka-Kansai Airport it was all fairly smooth really, as pretty much everything was signposted in Roman characters as well as Japanese. We found an ATM which only let you withdraw a minimum of 10,000 Yen (which is 50 quid!), bought our train tickets then made our way to the JR station to get our train to Kyoto. The train pulled into the platform and they cleaned it before letting us on. We could see inside it and the chairs slowly rotated around to face the direction which the train was gonna go in! I thought that was pretty groovy. I also browsed the kiosk on the platform, and they had Chocolate Pockys on the shelves! (See post from Monday 28th March) I'll have to get some of those tomorrow!

Anyway, the walk from Kyoto station to the hostel was a death march with all the heavy bags I was carrying - felt like a right weary mule! The highlight was seeing a group of lads learning to breakdance on the street. How random! The hostel is really small but nice and cosy, bit like a house on four floors really.

Ok. So the plan for tomorrow is basically get up as early as possible to take in as much of Kyoto as we can. We've no food so we'll be eating out and we've no idea what's best to see while we're here, so when we check out in the morning we'll be asking the receptionist where to go to eat, what temples to see, where the hot outside spring baths are! We're staying in Osaka tomorrow night so we're aiming to get there around 5pm, have some tea then go out for karaoke! Then we'll be leaving the next morning for Good Ole Blighty!

I'll post again from the airport on Wednesday probably (cos it's free - haha!) and let you know what I've been up to in the Land of the Rising Sun. I'm going to go and get some sleep now so I can make the most of my day tomorrow!

Leaving on a Jet Plane!

Hello Everyone!

Well I'm sat at Sydney's International Airport Terminal, feeling very annoyed that this day has come so quickly!

We had a lovely night last night having drinks at the Opera House bar with Emma (from our Whitsundays Trip). It was great to catch up and to meet her sister and parents. It was also the best way to spend our last night - sat by the harbour looking out over the lit-up Harbour Bridge, by the illuminated Opera House.

This morning is a miserable rainy day compared to the last couple of days, so we've been really lucky with weather. The rain makes it only slightly more easy to leave today! Cassie will be cursing us though cos we were hoping it wasn't going to be sunny today and she was planning to go to Manly! Also, I nipped to the 7/11 this morning just before breakfast, and it was appropriate to see a queue of anticipating travellers waiting outside the Oz Experience office for a bus, just like we did 12 weeks ago. I felt jealous but happy for them at the same time, it was strange!

Anyway, must dash as we'll be boarding soon, and I need to grab some snacks for this heffer of a flight we have to do to Japan! We should arrive around 8pm (about 11am Monday morning GMT). I'm looking forward to it actually. It should be an experience!

See you soon!

Our Last Day in Australia

Today is a sad day in the history of Globetrotting. Today is our last full day in Australia.

We woke early this morning feeling only slightly rough from last night, and left the hostel with a new girl in our room called Cassie to get the train and bus to Bondi Beach for the day. We spent a few hours lazing in the sun (catching our last rays and trying to reclaim our lost tans!). I went in the sea only to cool off - it was a gorgeously sunny and hot day again - and the sea was lovely and refreshing. That's something I'm really going to miss - just being by the coast and being able to lie on the beach and play in the sea all day. Bliss! I only came out of the sea because I was anxious about getting hit by a surf board!

I left Cassie and Claire on the beach to go and salvage my last Boost - a Pure Passion which I downed I was so thirsty! And I even stretched and had a regular this time instead of my usual small since it was our last day. I had a brief browse of the shops and bought some sunglasses (something I intended to do in our first week of being in this country!), then we travelled back to Central Station to post our last blogs.

I really can't put into words how I'm feeling right now. It doesn't feel right that I'll be getting on a airplane tomorrow, not knowing for certain when I'll be seeing this amazing country again. It just feels too soon, like we haven't really done Australia justice. The thought of leaving makes me feel extremely sad. I've now set my heart on coming back sometime after university with a working visa, to experience working and living here before I consider applying for residency. If that goes well I would move here in a heartbeat. The only thing hindering my decision would be the fact that my family would be on the other side of the world. That would be a hard decision to make.

Don't get me wrong - I am looking forward to going back to Bolton (and the 'Real World'!). Especially to see all my family and friends again and spend some time at home (without plastic-bag rustlers in the night, without having to get ready for bed in the dark if you come home late, without mangy drain hair, without dirty, messy and noisy kitchens, without pasta for tea every night...!). However, I feel this trip has somewhat turned me into a dracomaniac ('travel addict' - for all you laymen!), and I'll now be forever planning my next travel venture. That's something else that would stop me from moving here straight after university - the fact that there's still so much of the world to see.

In fact, I've been thinking about coming here again and encompassing a few countries into the journey (to justify going to Australia twice!). My vague plan is to work at home for a year or two after university, then make my way back to Australia via South-East Asia, taking in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. Then, after working in a few places in Australia for a year, returning home via New Zealand, Fiji and maybe South America. Sounds like a plan hey! We'll have to see.

Whatever happens, I know that I'm going to feel an empty space once I leave Oz. At least I can rest assured in the fact that I can, and will, come back. That's for certain.

Revisiting Manly and Releasing my Lunatic!

Hey Blog Fans!

We did get the ferry to Manly Beach yesterday eventually - got there at about 2pm! The weather was delish - lovely and sunny - and the ferry ride was just as good as it was last time. We took in great views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, and sailed past the little fort sat in the middle of the harbour called Fort Dennison, where they quirkily set off a cannon every day at precisely 1pm.

We spent an hour or so on the beach, then I left Claire with the stuff and went on the hunt for a Roxy handbag. I found a Quiksilver shop that had some for $15, and they had the one with lovehearts on it that I've had my eye on, but it was just too small to fit my camera in! So I spent ages trying to decide which one to get, and settled for a white one with pink stripes that has 'Roxy' scrawled across it. It's lovely! I nipped into Boost on the way back to get mine and Claire's King William Chocolates and our loyalty stamps, and because the girl on the till didn't put them through separately (which I wasn't really that bothered about in fairness!) she gave them both to me for free! I was well chuffed! And confused slightly!

We arrived back to Circular Quay in time for the glorious sunset over the harbour. On a whim we decided to go to Luna Park, since it was open late and we weren't gonna be going out on our bender until about 10pm. We didn't have to pay extra to get the ferry over either as it was covered by our Day Tripper tickets that we bought to go to Manly. It was weird to be on the other side of the bridge and the harbour for a change!

We got unlimited ride tickets and went on nearly everything except a waltzer type of contraption (because by that time we were feeling pretty queasy!). Most of the rides were clearly ex-carnival rides, but the trouble was they looked really tame until we got on them! The 'Tango Train' was hilarious - like a hardcore merry-go-round. Claire was squashing me against the side of the carriage due to the force of gravity! There was one called the 'Ranger' - just like the Excalibur at Camelot, and one called the 'Dominator' (they all had cheesy names by the way!) which was that one where you sit in a long row and go around in a circle against the back of the ride. The scariest was the 'Wild Mouse' - just liike the 'Mad Mouse' at Blackpool - cos it felt like it was just going to swing right of the track! I made Claire sit in the front for that one, and it took her a second or two to process what I'd said: "Bagsy not sitting in the front!" ... ... ... ... ... "WHAT????".

Anyway, after a go on the 'Tumble Bug' (which stands on the spot where a Big Dipper ride used to be, before they closed it down after complaints from nearby residents about the screaming) we thought it best to get back and have some tea (before we lost our dinner), and good job too because we caught the last ferry back to Circular Quay!

We had a tea of filled pasta and spicy tomato sauce, then got dolled up for our night out! We started in Side Bar and had a few drinks and a dance, then walked down to Darling Harbour. We had a drink in Home Bar (a coke cos I couldn't afford an alcoholic one!), then moved onto Home Night Club. We had to run a gauntlet of two sets of ID requesting bouncers and a metal detection and bag search station, before getting to the counter and realising we didn't have enough cash to get in! So we went to the ATM and then had to run the gauntlet a second time (you would've thought they'd just let us through since they'd seen us minutes before but no!). It was $25 to get in but it was the best $25 I've ever spent on a night out. The DJ was amazing - best set of house I've heard in a while! We had a right good dance (or I did at least - Claire looked slightly bored but said she had a good time!) then left at around 2am. Great night!

Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach - a stroll along the coast...

Hello All!

Yesterday we caught the bus down to Coogee Beach with Jodie, and it was gorgeous. It was a lovely little bay enclosed by cliffs, and since it was a weekday it wasn't busy at all. We lazed on the beach for a few hours and had some dinner, then at about 3pm we started walking the coastal walk to Bondi Beach. We did it this way round instead of Bondi to Coogee Beach because we'd heard that that route is virtually all uphill! Walking along Coogee Beach to the start of the walk we ran into Emma from our Whitsundays trip. That was mega weird - running into Jodie the day before then Emma today - people we haven't seen since the East Coast. Small world!

Along the walk we passed loads of little bays. We passed Gordons Bay, Clovelly Bay (which had a swimming pool on the beach!), an eerie cemetary, Bronte Bay and Tamarama Bay, before finally arriving at Bondi Beach at about 5pm. The walk was really scenic and a totally easy effort, and the weather was fantastic for it. It was a really good way to spend the day.

Jodie left us in Bondi to go back to the City, while Claire and I went on the hunt for a worthy Fish and Chip Shop. We found two - neither had gravy on the menu - so we settled for a pizza at an outside restaurant on the front. It got dark really quickly, and although Bondi wasn't nearly as tacky as I was expecting, I did get the feeling that I was in Blackpool. To be fair I think it was only the set up of the front with all the shops and the beach. But there you go.

We got the bus and train back to the City, then got ready to meet Emma for some drinks. To cut a long story short, arrangements fell through cos Emma was knackered after seeing a show at the Opera House, so Claire and I went on a mini bender of our own! We had a few in Side Bar, then investigated Scubar (at the YHA), then caught the train to Circular Quay. We had a drink at the Opera House Bar and talked about how we were gonna come back to Oz someday and how we were gonna do it. Then we moved on to the Luna Lounge at 'Jacksons on George' for a dance.

At 2am we decided it was time to head back. We got to Circular Quay station to discover that it was closed and trains stopped at midnight, despite our return tickets being valid until 4am! We were so annoyed cos walking back would've been a long walk and unsafe, and we'd paid for a return ticket that we couldn't use! We went into Macca's, bought a cheeseburger and complained to the guys behind the counter about it for a while, then just got in a taxi. How annoying!

Anyway, we didn't get any time on the beach at Bondi since we got there so late, so I think we're gonna go back on Sunday and have a lazy day before the stress of travelling home! Today we've been down to Paddy's Markets to grab some last minute souvenirs (David and Matthew - I've no idea what to get you so forgive me if my presents are foul!). We're gonna get the ferry to Manly Beach in a while cos it's another lovely and sunny day. We need to soak up the sun and reclaim our tans while we still have the chance!

I'll post again before we leave Sydney, which means I'll probably post tomorrow! Man I can't believe we've only got tomorrow left then we leave. I don't know what to say to that!