The End or is it.....by Em

27-07-06

Well it`s finally arrived, the last day of our most AWESOME trip, which will be spent in my personal favourite city in Japan - Osaka!
I feel like we've seen and experienced so much in the 3 months we have been away, and I wouldn't hesitate to come back to Asia again.

I'm in a state of mixed emotions as as our journey comes to the end, sad that soon it will all be over and I will have to look for a new job and do the whole job interview thing....poos!!
But we are both really looking forward to coming back to Welly and seeing all our friends and family & our 2 furry children, Pixel & Loki.
I won`t have to harass the cats in Japan anymore...haha

Thanks for joining us on our travels via the blog, which we hope you have enjoyed. We have enjoyed putting it together and reminiscing on our experiences - the good & the bad, but mostly good.

We are heading back out soon to make the most of our last day & then later tonight we have the unenviable job of packing our backpacks for the journey to Kansai airport tomorrow morning. Also thanks for all the warnings about the freezing Wgtn weather, I will ensure to wear something suitable. It has been a longtime since we have needed warm clothes, especially since today it is a brilliant sunny clear day in Osaka with intense sweaty heat of 32 degrees C. In for a bit of a shock when we step off the plane in Wellington...


To summarise our trip here are Em's HIGHS and LOWS;

LOWS - not too many

• Con-artists in Vietnam on overnight train
• Huge-ass cockroaches in most areas in South East Asia - scary!!!!
• Seeing the explotation of young girls who are forced into prostitution in Phnom Penh, Cambodia - not nice.
• Extreme poverty in Cambodia - particularly Phnom Penh, in comparison to the very wealthy areas housing government officials
• Squat toilets in China, the absolute dirtiest, unhygenic, disgusting...ewwww
• Middle-aged bullies in a communal bath-house in Kyoto

HIGHS!!!! - so many...

• Getting to stroke and have our photos taken with the tigers in Kanachaburi, Thailand - the most amazingly beautiful animals.
• THE FOOD all throughout SE Asia - YUM!!!!
• The beautiful isolated island and beach of Ko Phi Phi, Thailand - I wish we could go there for a few days before coming home, a holiday to recover from a holiday..haha
• Siem Reap, Cambodia - visiting all the temples at Angkor and hanging our with our driver Visal on his tuk tuk. THE CAMBODIAN PEOPLE!!! Amazing, so friendly.
• Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - our day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels on the back of motorcycles with Mr Dat and Mr Ton and meeting the people from the country at the marketplace.
• Hoi An, Vietnam - I had the most wonderful and memorable 30th birthday cycling around the beautiful cobblestone streets with Tere in the hot sun, unforgettable!
• Sapa, Vietnam - our day hike amongst the hills and rice paddies with the Black H'mong Tribe children following us was surreal.
• Beijing, China - The Great Wall - magnificent scenery, breathtaking!
• Osaka, Japan - "Amerika Mura" - YEAH BABY the coolest place for people watching, craziest styles and great shopping!! Also cool little bar with ultra friendly bar-staff that make the BEST bar-snacks and white russians.

and finally.....

• Experiencing and sharing this amazing trip/journey with Tere my bestest friend and boyfriend - big hearts to him!!
  

Anyway, 'Arigato gozaimass' for coming along for the ride via the internet. Will see you all soon!

Sayonara
Em

Osaka Again - DenDenTown & Amerika-Mura

26/7/6

This morning we had to relocate hotels due to a reservation bungle. The sweet revenge rather than to put up with a dorm room was to boycott the joint. Pleased to find a much better hotel and room on our arrival - and cheaper. Last two nights will be spent here - other than on the plane back home.

Today Em and I decided to splitup again to pursue different areas. But before this we decided to checkout something bizarre we noticed from out our hostel toilet window....

There's a mall next door with a rollercoaster going through it. Had to go and see what that was about. A pretty rundown mall actually. Looks like it had its heyday back in the 90s and has fallen into disrepair. Decided against crashtesting the rollercoaster for them.

DenDen Town - TERE



Amerika-Mura - EM

Hiroshima - Day 2 - Peace Memorial Museum

25-7-06

Up early, have our breakfast downstairs in hotel lobby area, seems like a longtime since we have stayed anywhere where breakfast was included. I think maybe Vietnam was the last.
Anyway, eat brekkie, check-out and store our bags in reception area and head back to Peace Memorial Park.
We take a different route this time and wander down a rabbit warren of side streets absolutely chock-a-block with bars. Each building has a different bar/restaurant on each floor, if not more. Finally hit the main street and walk down for about 10 mins till we reach the Park.

Tickets for entry to the museum are only 100 Yen - approx. $1.20, we each hire an English language audio device like the ones you can hire at Te Papa. The museum is extremely thorough covering all aspects of the Atomic bombing on 6 August 1945.
The first section has photos and plaques about Hiroshima prior to the bombing at certain displays it would show an icon of headphones and a number, you then punch the number into you audio system and an American voice translates the description for you. Rather handy since neither of us speak/read Japanese.
Inside the building they have an almost life-sized replica model of the A-bomb dome, and there are many minature models of before and after the bombing, it is mind boggling to see, the bomb completely obliterated the entire city, I am surprised there were any buildings left upright.

Understandably Hiroshima have taken it upon themselves to act as activists against nuclear testing and everytime a nuclear test takes place, the current mayor of Hiroshima sends a letter to the president of the country in question, protesting it. Copies of these letters are posted on pillars within the museum. Infact the most recent letter was sent in Feb 2006 to none other than George W Bush and his henchman T. Blair for nuclear tests conducted in the States earlier this year.

There are 3 levels to the building, the second level deals with the make-up of an atomic bomb and which countries currently test, and interestingly enough how many major accidents have occured. One place in the USA has been testing for the past 28 years and they have had 30 MAJOR accidents...

The final floor deals with the affects the atomic bomb/radiation had on human beings. Rather disturbing this section was -NB: DO NOT READ NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH.

Displays of children with skin melting off.
Photos of skin discoloratin, and strange ulcers.
One cabinet displayed the actual skin and fingers off a small boy- skin blackened.
Photos of strange black fingernails that started growing out of mans hand after exposure to atomic bomb and radiation.
Photos of horrific burn marks, pus filled sores. Faces burnt off.
Displays showing which internal organs are affected most by radiation.

List goes on and it was rather disturbing. The audio device we were carrying even told disturbing stories about children that actually survived the bombing with extreme injuries only to die the next day.

This was the last section of the Museum and as we came out the other end, and exited there were a number of photo books with various presidents and prime ministers who had visited the museum, each had written a comment expressing their support for the Museum. Among them were NZs very own Helen Clark and Fidel Castro.

All in all the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is very thorough and inspiring in terms of the vigilant protest against Nuclear Testing and weapons. All I can say is after visiting that museum I am very pleased and proud that NZ is nuclear free, I hope that one day the whole world will be.

- EM

Back in Osaka

25-7-6

Have returned to Osaka. A beautiful blue-sky afternoon on our arrival. It is the final stop before returning home. Yay !

We have three nights here. Tommorow we're going to check out Amerika-Mura again, and denden town. We hope to squeeze in some more good Japanese food while we can too.

We jump on an AirNZ plane on Friday night, and arrive back in Wellington Saturday morning. Will likely do a few more posts before then......

Hiroshima - Peace Memorial Park and A-Bomb Dome

24-7-6

Arrived in Hiroshima after another comfortable and speedy journey on Shinkansen - only took 1.5hrs.

After we exited the JR station, we were expecting to walk the 15 mins to our hotel as per the directions, however this was un-necessary as they have trams running directly from outside station along the main road.So we jumped aboard our tram or streetcar as they call it in Japan and 5 mins later we had reached our destination.

After checking into our tidy little room with its own private bathroom and shower- a luxury after the communal showering business in Kyoto, we decided we would walk to the Peace Memorial Park which wasnt far from our abode.

We walked through a main shopping throughfare/gauntlet, like an arcade - similar to the shopping area in Shijo, Kyoto. Each side of the covered streets are lined with shops and restaurants.

As we exited the shopping area we are greeted with the site of a large park area across the road, this is the Peace Memorial Park, a beautiful park with a river running through.

We see before us the A-Bomb Dome which was one of the few buildings left standing when the Americans dropped the first Atomic bomb at 8.15 am on 6 August 1945.
There is a description about the builiding on a pillar and it is fenced off.

Intially after the tragic bombing the people wanted to demolish the building as they were still in shock and recovering from the devastation it caused and saw it as a negative, but they soon realised the importance of preserving the building as a stark reminder of the most destructive force ever created by human beings.
The city of Hiroshima actively raise money to continuely preserve this building. It is impressive and inspiring to see the lengths they as a city have gone to to ensure this.

We spent about 15-20 mins wandering around it, we then walked over the bridge crossing the river and walked through more of the Peace Memorial Park and come across a a giant bell which acts as a symbol of peace. The public and tourists alike are encouraged to ring the bell as it acts as a unified call for Peace. Tere and I both took turns ringing it, it had a lovely deep tone to it.

The grounds on the Peace Memorial Park are very beautiful and well maintained with large hedges and trees and lots of varying sculptures. A major path runs through the middle of the grounds and runs directly to the Peace Memorial Museum, which is a large white rectangular building with a modernist design.

We head back toward the shopping area and locate an internet cafe where we can relax for an hour. By the time we depart the internet cafe it is 8pm.

We go to a pub/restaurant for dinner called Kembys - Tere has a bacon and beef burger and I have Vegetarian Fajitas. Very Japanese...
The table next to us a a group of 20 something Japanese people celebrating one of the females birthdays, she is presented with a candle and a shot glass of tequila, which she knocks back easily accompianed with a rowdy version of Happy Birthday to you, we are encouraged to sing along, so we do.

We head back to our hotel room at about 10.30 pm and call it a night.

Kyoto - Kinkakuji Temple

23-7-6

This temple conjurs up what most tourists hope/imagine when they think of traditional Japan.
You certainly won`t be disappointed visiting Kinkakuji Temple, also known as the Golden Pavillion it is actually made from real gold. It is magnificent.


The surrounding grounds are beautiful (as you can see), with giant looming trees, mossy grass & little stoney pathways winding around. In the surrounding lake giant gold-fish & turtles swim around & giant water-lilies float on the surface.

We wandered around following the path for the best part of 1hr. Further along there are small souviner shops & an area with another small shrine with giant bells outside. Many of the locals threw money into an offering box & then rang the bells 2-3 times. Must bring good luck?

We had a lovely time at Kinkakuji Temple, it was peaceful & relaxing and the grounds are really beautiful. The photos speak for themselves.