Osaka

Welcome to Osaka! Cats and Octopus balls. 

Our next destination was Osaka. We were staying in the Namba district, most notably known for its nightlife, restaurants and, it would seem from our road, amusing geeks/Matt. Every shop along the road catered for Otaku or people with a somewhat obsessive interest in anime, manga or video. There were manga shops and all sorts of collectables from transformers (original ones!) to Gundam. Lets just say Matt was a very happy boy.

The look of a boy who has been told NO!
 (now I know how my parents felt when they used to take me food shopping)

As previously mentioned Osaka is famous for its good food. Amazing Italian food is everywhere, some of the best I have ever tried but the cities main delicacy is Takoyaki - octopus balls.  You can’t walk more than a meter without walking into another giant octopus advertising his balls.

Go on, you know you want them....

On our second day in Osaka we had the worst rain since New Zealand so we decided to head over to the aquarium. On the way we discovered the worlds largest Ferris Wheel, I have always hated them, especially after my experience in California. I did not care for the worlds biggest one. Although it was big.

Worlds evilest largest ferris wheel. 

We had a great time at the aquarium, despite the numerous school trips there. The animals were all looked after well and it was great to see some manta rays, a Yu-chan whale shark and an octopus that wasn’t spherical.

School trip!

Dude!

After the aquarium the rain had subsided so we decided to head back over to Namba walk and experience their famous nightlife.

Mmmmm mini pizza. 

Couldn't work out if should put in mouth or ear...

you decide.

Marine theme? 

Arashiyama

Our second day in Kyoto and I have already fallen in love with the city. It doesn’t feel like a typical city, it has a very subtle and gentle feel to it. Kyoto is very much a city that has retained its history, which is very different from a lot of places we have visited and it exudes culture and tradition. My favourite thing to do here is to simply walk along the streets, experiencing the sights, smells, and sounds. There are many narrow hidden streets full of quirky little shops and eateries. The blossom is starting to arrive, there are small streams everywhere, there are many many beautiful geishas. It also helps that the sun has appeared again.

Check out the cool sock gloves!

Tunuki- Japanese school children have a very rude song about him! 

We decided to visit Arashiyama, a town at the base of Kyoto’s western mountains.  Catching the bus there was a breeze, not like the confusing tube maps of Tokyo. In Arashiyama we wandered around the many shops and parks. The highlight of the day was the amazing bamboo grove. The narrow walkway through the bamboo forest appeared out of nowhere and was like entering wonderland, as the bamboo  swayed in the wind it made the most incredible sound, it is hard to believe that it is just grass.

Big bamboo or really small lady?

Matt ❤ bamboo 

 

Kyoto is famous for its delicious food and it has not disappointed. Every meal we have had has been sublime. Matt’s Japanese has come in handy on several occasions, most notably when he decided that out of all the restaurants available to us we should go to the Tonkatsu (pork) restaurant! The waiter and other diners were highly amused as the crazy white people proceeded to order dishes, in dubious Japanese, without the pork, in a famous pork restaurant. However, the food arrived and it was delicious, filling, and best of all minus the pork- well done Matt. An added bonus was that we only had to pay for one meal as no pork means it wasn’t a real meal! Hurrah, maybe this was Matt's plan all along?  

View from the top of the mountain.

Japanese poem on a rock. As you do. 

Vending machines are EVERYWHERE!

DisneyLand

The day had arrived for me to tick off the penultimate park in my quest to visit every Disney park in the world. (well, until they finish Disney world Shanghai, but that’s for a different trip!) The day started with our journey on the magical express (not its real name but I feel it should be) train to the park.  The excitement I experienced at the Mickey shaped windows and handrails was slightly inappropriate for a 25 year old, but then this is the power of Disney.

Best window in the world??

Eeek!

Fast food at Disney HK. 

The park itself was pretty quiet which was great as it meant we could go on the rides as much as we wanted without queuing. Although the castle here was even smaller than the one in California, the park did not disappoint. And rather importantly I felt it had the best It’s A Small World so far. Guilty pleasure that ride.

Matt could not contain his excitement at being in another Disney Land. I think he
was ringing Gary for help. 

Eagerly awaiting the ride!

Just for Lisa, Becky, Hannah and Dan.

And I still came second on the leader board.

Sexy Buzz- Hong Kong style. 

Where's Wally? 

Mickey was busy but these two were free.

After another exciting day in the land of magic if was off to meet Gary for some food and a catch up!

See you later Taiwan

I have tried to think of a witty way to put it but I just can't think of anything that comes close to; Taipei is ace!

I am generally a big fan of travelling in Asia anyway it is true, but Taipei has been a really great experience, while we were here it:

• Rained a lot
• Was cold
• Was grey
• Veggie food was hard to find
• Was busy
• We had to travel 30 mins on the train to get to Taipei city centre
• Did I mention it was cold

I did say that we loved it didn't I?

Because we were so far from the city centre and the weather was a bit dodgy, we haven't seen many of the big cultural attractions, in fact we haven't been to a single temple and have seen only 2 museums. We have spent our time walking the markets, small districts and the odd mall. We have jumped on so many different tube and local rail trains it is impossible to count. This is what has been so great about Taipei, around every corner there has been something to catch our eye, sometimes just an interesting sign, or maybe a piece of street art.

This shop seemed to have no Astro Boy stuff at all, just this loverly poster

A mad cow sculpture in one of the markets

Aimee always enjoys a nice cat on a sign

A game full of Stiches

We ate at some amazing food courts (there are so many food courts in Taipei it is actually hard to find your way out of them) and unusual resturants.

Yes in this restaurant you really do sit on the toilet to eat.

Us enjoying Christmas dinner, Taipei/Italian style

Our Christmas rissotto

The best way to sum up our time in Taipei was our Christmas day. The things we needed to work worked and we were thrown a few nice surprises. We were really hoping to be able to speak to people at home on Christmas day via Skype and we were not let down by Taiwan's internet, it was the best connection we have had on the whole trip. Later we went into Taipei to grab something to eat and checkout the Christmas vibe in the park. As always the train arrived on time and was quick and clean, although packed. We found the restaurant we were looking for in the student district using Taipei's ingenious (when you get the hang of it) road system. But the restaurant was closed for Christmas day, no problem there were loads more to choose in the area. We ended up in an Italian style place with very friendly staff and a small boy sat in the corner playing computer games.

After dinner we headed off towards the park like we had planned, we had heard there would be some Christmas type events there, we never made it to the park. 5 minutes from the restaurant a group of students were putting on a free battle of the bands type event in the street so we stopped and watched that for a few hours until our feet were num. The music was good but even better was the atmosphere of everyone gathered together.

Waiting to sound check

She really was singing "Purple Haze",

Red boots playing "Purple Haze"... really well.

The American guy was invited to gatecrash Jizz Trio's set (really their name)

Singing a balled to his girlfriend who was sat next to Aimee

Taipei (and Taiwan) were not on the plan for this trip, it was a late night, sleep deprived decision and it was inspired. We are hoping to get the opportunity to go back one day, there is a whole island to explore.

Hua Hin

After a pleasant day relaxing around the pool in Sukhothai, our next destination was Hua Hin. We broke up the journey by staying overnight in Bangkok and we were glad we did as flood hit Bangkok is still suffering and our 6-hour journey turned into a 8-hour one. Unsurprisingly we were all overjoyed when we were able to get off the bus and have a stretch out.

Traffic in Bangkok

Well rested, the next day we jumped in a mini van and went on our way to Hua Hin. Fortunately the floods did not feature in this journey and less than 5 hours later we were walking along the beach and watching the sunset from a beach side bar.

Sooner or later it was going to happen. We were lucky not to meet them in New York. But that night, meet them we did. Can you guess who visited us that night??

That’s right… Bedbugs!! I don’t think I have ever jumped out of my bed so fast at 6 o’clock in the morning! Fortunately only our room was infested but unfortunately they appeared to particularly enjoy the taste of Matt. The itching was maddening and the spots unsightly, but we were able to book into a nice new hotel just down the road. After sending all our worldly goods, which at the moment is roughly 4 kg of clothes and 2 backpacks, to the laundrette it was a case of smothering ourselves with after bite and trying to ignore the temptation to scratch.

By our last day in Hua Hin, Matt and I were feeling a lot less itchy and we were all able to enjoy a cooking course. We had a fantastic day, which started with buying our ingredients from the market. Our teacher Bo, explained to us all the ingredients we would be using before driving us to her house where the lesson would be taking place. Bo welcomed us into her beautiful home and made us feel very welcome, all this coffee around the pond we almost forgot what we were there for!

Making some coconut milk

C shows us how it is done!

Playing with the big knives! 

The new Jamie Oliver?

Finished product: Pad Thai

The Master-chef of Gaeng Jued!

In total we made 4 dishes Tom Yum soup, Green Curry, Pad Thai and a Thai dessert. We were all totally stuffed but feeling very proud of ourselves by the end of it!