Travel Fun!

Fiji (Part 1)

2007-06-07T20:26:00.000+01:00

9th Nov - 10th Nov 2006

After only a few hours of uncomfortable sleep on the flight from Melbourne, I arrived heavy-eyed at Nadi (pronounced Nandi) airport. It was about 5.30am local time and my body-clock was on Snooze mode. As I blindly followed the other passengers from the plane to the terminal, I was woken up by the sight and sound of locals performing a welcome song for us. It was like something from a movie and it instantly put a smile on my face. Passport control took forever as I was introduced to 'Fiji time'. There's a time and a place for the Fijians' easy-going take-your-time attitude, and this wasn't it. Once I'd got to arrivals, I quickly found the tour desk for Beachcomber Island (Fiji's party island) and booked for 1 night, knowing I'd stay longer but unsure exactly how long. Everyone seemed to speak English well but still used the Fijian words 'Bula' and 'Vinaka', meaning 'hello' (along with a seemingly endless list of other things) and 'thank you' respectively. If there's one word to sum up Fiji, it would be 'Bula' (Where in this case 'Bula' means "fun and sunshine, there's enough for everyone").

The free bus ride from the airport to the port left at 7.45am. It felt like quite a life-threatening journey with some questionable driving, but we made it in one piece and on time for the Beachcomber boat. It was turning in to a lovely hot day and I couldn't wait to get on a beach and enjoy the sun! As the boat came ashore to the island, we were greeted by more great music and a chilled pineapple juice in the heavenly air-conditioned reception. 2 British girls (Siobhan and Sandy) were in front of me in the queue to book in. I started up conversation and we said we'd meet later.

I chilled out and read some of my book before embarking on a walk around the outside of the island. I didn't really notice the curve of the shore so it was a bit of a shock to find myself back where I started after only 5 minutes! The island was a mini paradise with stunning views all around. The only let-down was the coarse sand which made it painful to walk in places. Clearly the island wasn't named after a current member of staff.

Lunch time came around quickly and I queued for the buffet and had most of the dishes on offer. Curry in the heat of the day felt a bit weird but I went along with it. I spotted the English girls and sat down to eat with them. Another girl sat opposite me and introduced herself as Amy and mentioned it was her best friend Jessie's birthday. Together we quickly formed an unintentional group of English travellers consisting of me, the 4 girls and 2 guys called Kalvyn and Nick. They were great fun and we'd barely had time to let our lunch go down before we decided to have a go on the Banana boat. Kalvyn, Amy, Jessie and I put on some stylish life jackets and climbed on to the unstable banana, preparing to be chucked off repeatedly. As it turned out, we were experts at hanging on! If there was such a competition, we'd win hands down (obviously, otherwise how would we hold on?) The boat driver tried his best but we only fell off once. As we got back on I suggested we sat backwards for the rest of the journey, which was great and we even managed a few Mexican waves whilst bombing along.

I was staying in a 12-person dorm with a shared porch looking out over the back of the island. I went back to chill out and sat on the porch with some guys staying in the next dorm. I was wearing my skydive t-shirt and a guy called Russell said "I recognise that t-shirt!". He was from Essex and was travelling with his friend Dan. They were with a group they'd met on another Fijian island called 'Robinson Crusoe'. In the group was an American guy from Georgia called Jamie. Amongst many nicknames, he was known as Forest (of the Gump variety) due to his accent which made everything he said sound hilarious. Jamie and his guitar kept us entertained for hours.

In the evening we went for dinner (another buffet but with desert) and as it was Jessie's birthday we started some early drinking games. At about 8pm there was an auction for a crab race where you could bid on 30 crabs, each with a name related to a different country (like The Terminator from Austria). Siobhan and I planned to share a crab but we kept getting out-bid. Damn them! Some of the crabs went for over $30 just based on the country they'd been assigned.

I'd read lots about Kava, a traditional drink which is part of everyday life for Fijians, used in ceremonies and as a social lubricant to aid story-telling. Most people I met didn't like it and said it was like drinking mud, but I wanted to give it a go. A Fijian guy was making a batch near the bar where he had the ground-up root of the Kava plant wrapped in a cloth and was straining it with water. It certainly looked like mud! Half a coconut shell was dipped in to the liquid and scooped up. I downed it in one and although it wasn't the best-tasting drink I'd ever had, it wasn't bad. It had a certain bite to it that made my tongue go numb, similar to something you might have at the dentist's. I went straight back for more but I'm not sure why.

I didn't know the winner of the crab race (in fact, I don't know any crabs) but it was great fun to watch. Amy had ordered a big birthday cake for Jessie and the birthday celebrations went on late in to the night. After the bar closed at midnight, you were allowed to bring out the duty-frees and that's when the proper drinking games started. A few rounds of Ring of Fire got the best of me and after falling asleep at the table, I was helped back to my bed by Kalvyn and Nick at 2am. I slept peacefully until a maid woke me at 10.30, thinking I was leaving, despite making the effort to tell them I was extending my stay. Sigh!

I stumbled out of bed, very hungover, and went to pay for 3 more nights. On the way back I bumped in to a girl from my dorm who had arrived the night before with her friend but they'd crashed out early. She introduced herself as Jean from Sheffield and when I said I was gonna take it easy that night, she said I wasn't allowed as it was her 25th birthday.

I joined the rest of the English group on the beach and was told stories of my drunken night which I have no memory of. This included a tale of me wielding an imaginary light sabre around the beach! They're lucky I left my real one at home.

I walked over to speak to Jean and she asked if I wanted to join her and her friend Danielle (who I'd introduced myself to the day before and found out she was from Ohio) on a kayak trip across to the nearest island, Treasure Island. Dan, Russell and Jamie joined us but we only had the last 3 kayaks between the 6 of us. Dan, Jean and I swam, snorkeled and got pulled along by the kayaks across the deep waters. The reefs around the other island were truly amazing. I was snorkeling with Danielle for a while when I noticed she had disappeared. She'd seen a shark and rushed to shore in terror. I found out where she'd seen it and went in search. It was a shallow area (about 4ft) but I came face-to-face with easily the biggest fish I'd seen outside of an aquarium - it looked like it would rival my body weight! I then noticed a shark behind it which was about as long as my arms can stretch out and it looked gorgeous. I decided to follow the shark and managed to stay with it until the huge fish returned and scared it away.

I went to shore and up to the bar where Danielle was getting a drink to calm down after her shark-encounter. We sat drinking until the others arrived and then the 2 of us walked around the island. It was a great island, much larger (it took 20 minutes to circle) and better maintained than Beachcomber. We watched a large tractor pulling a container up the beach and later a quad-biker tearing it up along the beach towards us, passed a spot where a sign said to be quiet as turtles were being 'grown'. On the way back we did 2 per kayak with Danielle and I sharing one and taking turns to paddle. It got very windy and the waves made it a struggle to get back before the sun went down.

After that evening's entertainment of Pacific Island dancers and a fire-dancer, I asked DJ Foxy (the main entertainer who's deep-voiced catch-phrases included 'Everyone say Bula!', 'How you doin?' and 'Whatever!') to wish Jean happy birthday and get everyone to sing. Unfortunately he misunderstood and announced the birthday of 'Mr Jean'.

Danielle and I sat on the beach admiring the stars for a while before retiring, absolutely exhausted from the day's kayaking.

Auckland

2007-03-10T19:04:00.000Z

16th Oct - 22nd Oct 2006

I spent my last week in New Zealand meeting up with Sarah and the others everyday. We watched a few films (whilst drinking lots of Chocolate Horlicks) round at her uncle's place - an amazing modern house complete with a swimming pool. Our adventures included an Art gallery where we saw a piece of art that was simply a jacuzzi with whale music. We also stumbled upon the final performance of a joke boy band called... wait for it... 'Boy band', set up by a local radio station to see if they could pick random talentless people and get to number 1 - which, amazingly, they did! They were attempting to sing outside the venue of the NZ Music Awards where we watched various camera crews on the red carpet getting ready for the event later that evening. When they announced the list of the 'famous' artists about to arrive, we'd never heard of any, so we didn't stick around.

I spent a day helping out my uncle with computer stuff. In the afternoon I went out to my car to go to the barber's, only to find an empty space where I'd parked earlier that day! I resisted panicking and decided my trustworthy memory must be failing and I started looking in other places I must have parked it. It was broad daylight and in a fairly posh area, so I couldn't imagine it had been stolen. However, there didn't seem to be any other explanation - I'm always extra careful at checking parking restrictions and not going over someone's drive. I quickly went back to my uncle and told him - he insisted that I must have parked it elsewhere even though I was certain, so he drove me around the nearby streets in search of it. We then drove to the local Police station but it was closed, so we phoned and discovered it had been towed after someone had complained that I wasn't parked over a metre away from a driveway. It's apparently the law in NZ but a metre is longer than seems reasonable and I know I wasn't obstructing their drive in any way. We eventually got the car back but at a cost of $92. How lovely!

So I eventually got to the barber's the next day only to have my hair cut by a man who'd obviously been to the Edward Scissorhands' School of Hairdressing - I'm glad I made it out alive but I knew I'd have to get my hair fixed as soon as possible.

Sarah, Stuart and I went to a Maori Show at the Auckland Museum and amongst some fascinating and fun rituals, we got to see the Haka up close. It was mesmerising and extremely powerful. That night was my last with Sarah, so the 2 of us dressed up in the best clothes we had and went to Bar3, a cool cocktail bar in Auckland's sky tower. It was lively and had superb music, so we set about ordering the first of many cocktails. It seemed to take forever and we thought they might have forgotten about our order and were about to ask when the guy finally returned a bit flustered. He told us they were his first ever cocktails and he really wanted to get it right. By chance we kept getting the same guy for each round of cocktails and a few times I had to direct him as to how to make our drinks, bless him!

We took to the dance floor as it got busier and then escaped to an empty side-room where sofas lined the walls. We took an endless number of drunken photos on my phone and danced on the sofas. We left at closing at 3.30am and gave the new barman a $10 tip which seemed to make his night. We tried to move to the casino next door but you have to be 20 so Sarah wasn't allowed in (that didn't stop us trying to blag our way in).

We left the Sky Tower and passed a salsa club and decided to go in for a quick salsa dance. Next we moved to a big club called Met and Code which we'd been hearing about for ages. We got some shots and once again danced on the sofas in the middle of a packed club where no-one else was doing it. We didn't get chucked out though. All the dancing was thirsty work but the club decided they wouldn't give us tap water and instead wanted us to pay $5 which annoyed us enough that we left in search of free water! We sat in Burger King for ages, talking and enjoying our free water. At about 6.15am we got a taxi absolutely exhausted and drunk. Good times.

My last full day in Auckland was manic - I drove up to Matakana to visit one of my uncles and 3 cousins. I wasn't exactly lively after the night before and only having 5hrs sleep! I had to be back in the evening to go out for a lovely sushi dinner with everyone else. Afterwards I met up with Anna and Stuart (Sarah was working) and we returned to Bar3 where the new barman recognised me and did some crazy handshake. This time we got in to the casino where we played Roulette, quit while we were ahead and went home around 3am.

Taupo, NZ

2006-10-17T05:12:00.000+01:00

11th Oct - 14th Oct 2006

After a couple of lazy days recovering, I packed up and headed south to Taupo, a hot-spot for travellers next to NZ's largest lake, Lake Taupo. I'd been there before but briefly and not as a backpacker. Just before arriving in Taupo, I stopped at the Huka falls, one of the most impressive waterfalls I'd seen in NZ. Last time I was there, we saw a speed boat called the Huka Jet which got up close to the base of the waterfall and did 360 degree spins. I decided to do it this time.

So after settling in at the Rainbow Lodge backpackers, I went to book some activities for the next day. I booked the Huka Jet for 11am and a scenic boat around the lake for 2pm. Lovely.

I had a lovely steak at a restaurant at the waterfront. On the way back, I stopped at Pak 'n Save (a budget supermarket chain) and was surprised to see it being run by a bunch of kids. I'm not great at judging kids' ages but they must have been about 12yrs old! I wouldn't have minded the child labour if they hadn't been so damn slow!

Up bright and early, I went to the Huka Jet. It was a lovely day but I had to wear about 6 layers to stop me from freezing on the boat. I got soaked but it was really good fun. The boat weaves between tight gaps at high speeds, frequently coming close to hitting the sides, trees or even the black swans. Every time the driver twirled his finger in the air, it meant we were about to do a high-speed 360 degree spin - which got everyone very wet. The driver was a funny guy but I seemed to be the only one laughing at most of his jokes.

Afterwards, it was mentioned that you could go again on the same day for half price (£15). I thought about it but had the scenic trip to do. When I turned up for it, it was cancelled due to the wind but I could use the ticket again another day. This meant I could do the Huka Jet again, and I'm glad I did! Not only was it warmer and more fun (due to the wind) the 2nd time, but there were 3 young Brits on board - 2 girls (obviously sisters) and a guy. I spoke to the elder girl briefly and she was from Jersey and was staying in Auckland with relatives.

That night I went to a bar packed with people from the Kiwi Experience. I started talking to 2 German girls and we had a few drinks. One of them was doing a sky dive the next morning. I insisted that she was mad and I'd never do one until I was old enough to be less bothered about dying. Later, I was on my way to the bar when I literally bumped in to the guy from the Huka Jet. He did it to get my attention and I only just recognised him. He was with the younger sister and we got talking. Thinking about it, it was quite rude of me to leave the German girls, but never mind.

The guy, Stuart, was from Leeds, the younger sister was Sarah and the older one was Anna. Stuart and Sarah were doing the sky dive at the same time as the German girl the next morning and Sarah made it her mission to convince me to join them. We had more drinks and moved to Taupo's only club: The Holy Cow. It was great fun and we amused ourselves by spotting obvious 'Brits abroad'. We ended up dancing on the tables, trying to mimic the dance-moves of some of the best Brits.

By the end of the night, Sarah had succeeded in persuading me to do the sky dive. A few years ago my vertigo was bad enough that I wouldn't have been able to even go up in the small plane, let alone jump out of it! However, once I'd made the decision to do it, I was totally relaxed about it wasn't worried at all. This might have been influenced by alcohol. Sarah and I made a deal that if I did the sky dive, she'd have to do a bungy with me.

With only 5hrs sleep, I woke up before my alarm with a lovely hangover. I was still feeling really calm about the jump. I booked it at the reception of the backpackers and they were gonna pick me up at 11am from outside. On the bus was Sarah, Stuart, Anna (just there to watch, as she'd done it before with Sarah), Kirsten (the German girl) and a few others I didn't know.

Out of the 10 of us doing the dive, only me, Stuart and Sarah opted for the 15,000ft jump, everyone else did 12,000. Wimps! While signing the consent form, I had to write the date and realised it was Friday 13th! Lucky I'm not superstitious.

They split us in 2 groups and the 3 of us were on the 1st plane with 2 American girls. We got in to our suits and had the equipment fitted. Stuart and I were having videos made, so we met our cameramen (camera-woman in my case) and instructors and went through the procedures. A man with a digi-cam kept pointing it in our faces, asking us to wave.

We boarded the plane and sat in front of our instructor and promptly took off. We really couldn't have asked for better weather conditions. Not much wind, perfectly clear and warm. The 15min plane journey gave us some fantastic views.

The 2 American girls left the plane at 12,000 feet, disappearing from view instantly. The rest of us then had to put on oxygen masks ready for the shockingly steep ascent to 15,000 feet. I was 2nd to go and had to slide down towards the open door and dangle my feet over the edge without holding on to anything. It's easier said than done and although I wasn't scared, my brain told me to hold on to something. The camera-woman was on the side of the plane, I waved, the instructor put my head back and we jumped.

The feeling of free-falling for the first split-second was a shock but I quickly relaxed and was loving it. It's difficult to breath while your mouth is open and you're falling through the sky. I linked hands with the camera-woman and it was great. I didn't once think about the ground beneath me or the parachute.

When the free-fall was over, the parachute was opened and it was a whole other experience. Similar to parascending I'd done before but this was from 4,000 feet and so much better. I had time to take in all the scenery and had a nice chat to my instructor where I suggested we try landing on one of the moving lorries below.

I only just managed to stop us from falling backwards when we landed. Hugs all round with the instructors and I met up with the others. Stuart was in a state of shock which lasted most of the day. The American girls were already changed and back outside when we landed - it shows how much longer we got for the extra money. Once we'd changed, we had to stand in a group and 'go crazy and cheer' for the camera - oh dear!

We then were taken in to a mini cinema and got to watch the footage. It was good fun and I'm really glad I got the video made - even if it did cost £60! Still, I got a free t-shirt with it.

After lunch, I drove the 4 of us to the Taupo Bungy place. Stuart needed some convincing to do it and it wasn't helped by Anna repeatedly saying she found it worse than the sky dive. He gave in eventually but only if he could go first, claiming that if he saw us jump, he'd bottle it.

The jump was over a river and the scenery was gorgeous in the bright sunshine. However, the platform was swaying in the wind and I found it scarier than the sky dive, but jumped faster than the other 2, who were both nervous. You had the option of a 'water-touch' but they couldn't guarantee you'd reach the water. I went for it but it was the last thing on my mind when I was stood on the edge of the platform. The bungy rope was so heavy that you felt it was pulling you over the side. After checking how I had to jump, I just went for it. The free-fall part was crazy and then I found myself up to the waist in water and the rope kicked in. I bounced around a few times, soaking wet, before being lowered in to a rubber dingy below and taken to shore. I'd been half considering a bungy for a while but wouldn't have done it on my own. So glad I did it.

I dropped them back at their hostel and we agreed to meet up later to make use of the free shots we got for doing the bungy. So after chilling out for a few hours, I got a text from Sarah to say to meet them at their hostel bar. We had a drink and then headed to get our free Tequilla (it makes me happy). We ended up at a Friday the 13th night at another bar called 'The Shed'. It was busy but not great - we had fun talking anyway. They were going back to Auckland the next day and I was going to Napier, so we arranged to meet back in Auckland.

The next morning I attempted to do the scenic boat tour for the 2nd time, but it was windy again, so I got a refund and decided to go to Rock 'n Ropes instead. It had been highly recommended and was apparently scarier than both Sky Diving and Bungy jumping. It's basically an assault course over 40ft off the group. You get paired off with someone and you take turns in going up and staying on the ground belaying for them - stopping them from dying. Unfortunately my partner was a girl from Leeds who was half my size and I'm not convinced how well she'd have stopped me if I fell.

The scariest activity was walking across a long thin log (with curved surface) without anything to hold on to and then walking it backwards too! All this and it was extremely windy. After stopping half way on the log to make sure the wind didn't push me off, one of the instructors thought it would be funny to shake the log even more!

After 4 different walking activities, we then had the 'Giant Trapeze'. You climp up a 43ft log, and have to get yourself on top of the small end of the log, standing upright. This was the hardest bit but having watched the girl before me take 3 or 4 minutes, I didn't want the same thing, so did it quickly. You then launch yourself off the log on to a trapeze. After a few swings, you let go and they lower you really quite fast before stopping abruptly. The final activity was the 'Giant Swing' - basically a cross between a small bungy jump and a large swing. It hurt a bit, but was a real rush.

NZ with Tom & Luke

2006-10-17T04:12:00.000+01:00

3rd Oct - 8th Oct 2006

I was one of the first off the plane at Auckland airport and the friendly Maori guy at passport control started asking me what drugs I've tried and whether I use LSD to help me with programming. He was joking but I still wasn't gonna admit to anything - especially not the heroin in my back pocket.

There was a mix up with the time of my arrival, so no-one picked me up for a while. Eventually I arrived at my uncle Steve's house where Tom and Luke joined me and we all headed to my uncle Roger's for dinner to see everyone. Tom and Luke came back to where I was staying and we stayed up and watched The Wicker Man on the home cinema until 3am.

We got up early with the intention of getting away quickly to head north, but we had to get Tom's car checked out and new tyres fitted. We drove all the way to Paihia in the Bay of Islands and it rained most of the way. We stayed at the Pickled Parrot, a nice backpackers where we got our own 3-person hut thing. We freshened up, booked a fishing trip for the next day and headed around the corner to a pool hall.

We had a pizza in a local bar and won some prizes in a raffle, including some 'jandals' (flip-flops) which had a bottle-opener on the under-side. After a few different bars, we were given vouchers for a club called 'The Lighthouse', so that's where we went! It was quite fun and we met some travellers. We stayed until close at 3am knowing we'd get limited sleep for the fishing trip.

There was a bit of a rush to get up, get food and get to the boat by 9am, but we just about did it. It was a bright sunny day, perfect for the trip. After an hour of gorgeous sights, we anchored and started fishing. It was slow but we were hopeful it would pick up. I caught 5 in the first hour, but only 1 Snapper that was big enough to keep. Most caught less and unfortunately Tom and Luke caught nothing.

After the first hour, the fish weren't even biting and even a change of location didn't help. Other boats were having the same problem. Apparently the cold southerly winds make it difficult: "Winds from the south, fish shut their mouth." as the fishermen said. There was some confusion over the fish being divided up and we didn't even get to keep the one I caught - gutted!

After a siesta, we went back out and had gourmet burgers whilst listening to live music. More drinks later and we went back to the same club. It was less busy but I still enjoyed the cheese.

The next morning we got on the road early and headed to the very north of New Zealand: Cape Reinga. You can see the point where the 2 oceans meet and waves were crashing in to each other out at sea. There was a sign telling me how far I'd come from London and Tokyo and in what direction.

Down the road was the Te Paki Stream leading down to 90 Mile Beach. We drove along the stream and it was great fun, like being on a boat skimming along the water. When we got to the beach, I wanted to have a drive but we'd been warned not to stop the car due to the quick-sand. The sand seemed solid enough but to be cautious I suggested we change place without stopping the vehicle. This led to all sorts of fun.

We left the automatic car running along, opened the doors and jumped out running. We then ran around the moving car and jumped back in the other side. We did it lots of times and even filmed it. After we'd played around with the car, we realised time was getting on and we still had to drive the length of the beach, which takes about an hour at high speeds. We had to race against the tide and stopped to help out a Spanish couple who'd got their car stuck.

We drove south for a few hours and turned up at Matakana, where my uncle Phil lives. Roger and all my cousins were there for the night, which was nice.

Being jumped on by a large group of kids isn't my favourite method of being woken up in the morning, but it works. After a cooked breakfast, Tom and Luke got to briefly see Matakana the next morning before they had to drive to the airport for Luke's flight. I stayed behind and got a lift with Roger later in the day.

That night I wandered around the city, had a lovely Japanese meal and rented Lost In Translation. It was cool seeing it from a different point of view.

Tom got delayed the next morning and we didn't leave Auckland until 1pm, the time he was meant to be at the airport. A mad rush to the airport, a quick goodbye and I was on my own with a car.

Go Tokyo! (Part 2)

2006-10-11T23:46:00.000+01:00

30th Sept - 2nd Oct 2006

After drunkenly setting my alarm for 21.30 instead of 09.30, we woke late and went on a very unsuccessful shopping mission. There are a lot less shops selling novelty crap than I expected.

It was Chris's last full day and we saved the best 'til last. We booked in to the Park Hyatt, the setting of Lost In Translation. It's the best hotel experience I've ever had and it will take some beating. The hotel only starts on the 41st floor and the views are stunning. We had a corner room and the window stretched all along the large room.

The room had a huge HDTV, a small LCD screen in the bathroom, a heated toilet seat, a Jazz CD collection and loads of little things that we kept noticing. There were twice as many staff as they actually needed, so they were always there to help.

We planned to visit the New York Bar and Grill up on the 52nd floor (the Jazz bar where a lot of the film is set) but we wanted to look smart, so we asked to borrow suit jackets. 10 minutes later 2 people arrived at our door with the jackets in hand. They were the ones the staff wear, but it only has a logo on the inside.

We made use of the swimming pool (again with gorgeous views) and chilled in the room for a bit before donning our jackets (over new t-shirts) and heading to the 52nd floor. We sat at the counter (the long table Bill Murray sits at) drinking cocktails and watched the Jazz band until closing time at around 2.30am. Including some food, we racked up a £140 bill. It was worth it though!

Chris got up at about 7am, packed up and left for the UK. I didn't go back to sleep because the hotel is too good to just sleep in. I had another swim in the empty pool and asked concierge to make a booking for brunch at the New York Grill for noon (to coincide with my check-out). When I got there, looking smart in a black shirt, I was told I was going to be meeting the chef. I think as I was on my own and was staying at the hotel, they gave me special treatment because no-one else met him while I was there.

I was sat in front of the cooking area watching them prepare the meals, which was cool. The brunch menu was 6,800 Yen (about £30) and was more food than I usually have in a whole day. Luckily I'd starved myself ready for it. You got Champagne and an Appetiser buffet for starter. However, the buffet was huge and had so many superb dishes to choose from, I ended up having a large plate full. For main course I chose Snapper on a pumpkin sauce (and other stuff I can't remember). Everything was perfect. By this point I was definitely full but the desert buffet was waiting. Again, so much to choose from but I limited myself to just a little bit.

I was probably there for an 1.5hrs and left for some more exploring and shopping around Shinjuku. I moved to a really cheap hotel, but pretended I had never left by returning to the New York Bar that evening for some more Jazz and cocktails on my own. It was a Jazz piano and saxophone and near the end I put in a request (everyone else was!) for Moon River. The choice even got cheers! A loud and possibly drunk American guy seemed to love the music a bit too much and made it vocal in an otherwise relaxed atmosphere. I was trying to chill!!!

After I'd finished my meal, a waiter came to take my plate away and said "Was everything ok, Mr Ward?" and I recognised him as one of the many waiters from brunch and wondered if he remembered me. Then I realised I didn't give my name to anyone this time and I wasn't staying at the hotel anymore and he'd remembered my name. Good memory, Mr Waiter!

On my final day I had 7 hours to kill before I had to be back on the Friendly Airport Limousine. One of the main things left to do was the Imperial Palace, home of the Emperor. The grounds are massive and surrounded by moats. Annoyingly the grounds were shut to the public when I turned up, but it was still nice to see from the outside. I used up the remaining time in the Sony building (playing with lovely bits of new technology) and then Tokyo's biggest toy store where I bought some pointless Loco Roco merchandise.

I used up too much time and had to rush to get to the bus on time. I grabbed some sushi from one of the many Americanised (Americanized?) convenience stores with just minutes to spare. In the rush, I didn't check what type of sushi I was getting and it turned out to be the gooey rotten beans the Japanese man dared me to eat. It made me feel sick for a few minutes and every time I thought about it for the next few hours.

I made use of the airport's shower rooms to make the journey a little nicer but it was still exhausting. It took 22 hours from my hotel in Tokyo to my uncle's house in Auckland. For some stupid reason the trip was split in 3: Tokyo to Cairns, then Sydney then Auckland - with short stops in between. The last flight was on the South American airline LAN and was going to Santiago, Chile. I sat next to an old guy from Perth who grew up in Rottingdean and moved away during in the 1950's. Apparently there was a lot less gun crime in Patcham back then - instead they used swords.

Things I noticed in Tokyo:

There are no rubbish bins in the streets, yet it's very tidy.
It may be tidy but it often smells of sewage.
They love French stuff and lots of French words appear randomly.
It's near impossible to get cash from UK bank accounts.
There are very few Westerners and even fewer actual tourists.
Shop types seem to be grouped in areas - sometimes it took an hour to find Sushi!
Crime doesn't seem to exist - 1000's of bikes are just left unlocked in the street.

Go Tokyo! (Part 1)

2006-10-10T09:37:00.000+01:00

26th Sept - 29th Sept 2006

"You cannot use Mobile Telephones because it annoys the neighbours", said the 'Friendly Airport Limousine' (a simple coach) as I took the near 2 hour trip to the city centre. The weather was miserable and I hadn't slept in a long time. Help! If I'd known the coach trip was that long, I'd have tried to sleep.

Arriving at the Hilton, I was greeted numerous times and 3 people took me to my room. Chris was sitting there waiting. The view, the room and the hotel were great.

Armed with Hilton's finest umbrellas, we explored the area of Shinjuku. We stopped at a Sushi place for lunch and with their prices, I found it difficult to stop eating! We wimped out of a weird-looking brown paste that was the most expensive thing there. After a much-needed rest back at the hotel, we asked a guy at reception to recommend a place to go for dinner and drinks. It was a place with no English writing at all, but it was great ordering random things and avoiding things like raw pork gizzard.

The next day we visited Shibuya, another huge area of Tokyo - centre of Music and Fashion. During our exploring we had a break in 'The Cheese Cake Café' and found an amazing glass building that was so new only 1 floor was being used. We went up in the lift to see the floor of 'The Garden'. Half way up Chris realised it was a hairdressers from reading a leaflet, but it was too late. The lift doors opened and about 5 Japanese girls were standing at reception looking at us. We waved and went straight back down.

That night we went to the best Sushi place ever. The chef made everything right in front of us and the extra expense was worth it. We both went for a platter of various fishiness, including (intentionally) the weird brown paste which we'd looked up and found out was Sea Urchin Row (Uni). It was great! The superb meal was slightly spoilt (especially for Chris) by a Japanese guy who was entertaining 2 Australian girls. He started talking to us and it was all very friendly but he started challenging us to eat stuff. My Lonely Planet guide warned about it and the Chef really wasn't happy with it, but we played along. The first bit made Chris almost sick, so he sat out the 2nd piece - something I wish I'd done too. The guy described it as 'rotten beans' and they were gooey and really not good. The area of Shinjuku where the restaurant was, seemed to be full of American pimps. Chris even got given a business card from one.

We tried to find a club recommended by Lonely Planet called 'Club 328' over in an area called Roppongi. We didn't set out until after midnight, but it was supposed to go on all night. That's assuming it even still existed. Annoyingly it seems to have vanished and we wasted quite a long time wondering dark alleys.

We took a boat to Asakusa to visit the Buddhist Temple. It was the only tourist area we'd seen, everywhere else had a distinct lack of westerners.

There was a section to write messages on wooden boards - usually spiritual and emotional. Take a look what we left instead. If there's a Buddhist hell, we're probably going there.

We moved to a hotel in Shibuya, which joined on to the station. That night we had trouble finding a normal bar, so we went to The Dubliner's and had Cider with a group of french people. We then went around the corner to another recommended club called The Ruby Rooms - this one existed, but only just. We found the sign for it up a back-alley but it couldn't be the main entrance, so we went around the front, up some stairs and asked a Japanese lady at a restaurant below the club. She told us to go round the back using the international language of body-popping. After we'd said thanks and bye, we turned to go and after a pause (I assume to make sure she did it right), she made an over-the-top waving gesture and said rather loudly "Take care!!!". This made our night, she was awesome.

The club was more like a basement bar (despite being on the 3rd floor) and had an American DJ who was fantastic. There was a crazy Australian with bulging eyes who started talking to us. At the end of the night, we spoke to the DJ (Jake "the snake with his wooden snake") and he invited us to a club called Womb the following night and put us on the guest list.

We couldn't miss the free breakfast the next morning, so we got up at 9am. This was a mistake. 5hrs sleep and a hang-over is a bad idea when you have a packed day. We went to the (apparently) famous Tokyo Fish Market where billions of Yen worth of fish are sold daily. It's the freshest place to get sushi, so we got some for brunch. It tasted a lot fishier for some reason.

Despite our brains being a mess, we went to Miraikan (National Museum of Emerging Science & Innovation). It was phenomenal - by far the best museum I've ever been to. There was so much to see that we were still only on the 2nd floor of 6 after 2 hours and unfortunately were chucked out at closing time.

We had a siesta to stop us from collapsing and then went to Sonama, a California-fusion dining place below the Ruby Rooms club. Then to Womb, where we were on the guest list as promised. There were 4 floors, the 2nd was like being in a film - almost like the slow-motion clubbing scene from the 2nd Matrix film. Dense crowds of dancers facing a techno DJ in the smokey darkness lit by a laser show.

Up on the top floor where our DJ friend was playing, we got 'befriended' by a Fijian guy who was pleasant in manor but couldn't grasp that we were happy listening to the music and not there just for the Japanese girls. He would not let it go and we were still hung-over from the night before.

The Plan

2006-09-15T02:21:00.000+01:00

Hello there!

On 25th September I'm off on a trip for 3 months. This is the current itinerary:

Tokyo for 1 week - with Chris
Auckland for 3 weeks - with Tom and Luke for a few days and then with kiwi friends/family
Melbourne for over 2 weeks - with Lucy and also meeting up with an old friend for a few days
[Sydney and/or somewhere else in Australia for a few days of those 2 weeks]
Fiji for 2 weeks
Hawaii for 1 week
Cancun, Mexico for 1 day
Cuba for 2 weeks
New York for 1 week

Which brings be back to Brighton on the 21st December ready for an awesome Christmas Eve!

I hope to update this blog as often as possible, with some lovely photos and highly amusing anecdotes.

If you've been to any of these places, any advice or tips are more than welcome!

Leaving drinks are on the 23rd September in Brighton. Be there! xx