Move to Japan – Osaka & Kyoto

Me and the boy at Kuala Lumpur airport. My introduction to the Japanese toilet seat. Genius.

After leaving on time from Bali airport we began our long days travel to Osaka, Japan. We flew with Air Asia, a sort of Asian Easyjet but without the attendant horror. The first leg to Kuala Lumpur went without a hitch, the food we’d booked was fine (I’d dropped a couple of Imodium to insure the trip went smoothly so to speak) and Curtis seemed happy enough on our laps and flirting with the ladies. We had 5 hours to kill in Kuala Lumpur airport, I seem to remember I’d been thru there before and not been impressed. I wasn’t wrong. The toilets in that place are fairly grim, so, we grabbed a coffee in a Coffee Bean and used their wifi to plan more of the Japan trip, that idled away several hours. The second leg was fine too, although Curtis was a little grumpier, he was still pretty well behaved. By the time we arrived in Osaka at 9pm we were both pretty knackered after a 3.30am wake up and a long day.

First impression of Japan, well, apart from “it’s bloody freezing!”, if Customs is anything to go by, it should be first rate. We glided thru smoothly, our bags were waiting for us on the carousel, and the buggies from the plane were neatly lined up nearby. All very fast and efficient. Like it. We got the train to central Osaka easily, signs marked in English, and when we got a little confused there was always someone official to ask for directions.

Osaka city centre by day, and from our hotel room on the 29th floor. Not bad.....

We eventually arrived at our hotel (The Monterey Grasmere)  around 11pm very tired, and a bit posh it was too. I mean the place had it’s own replica stone chapel designed by an English architect on the 12^th lobby floor. We were on the 29^th floor and after unpacking a couple of things I got my first taste of a Japanese toilet! Man, where have these things been all my life!. Heated seats, a remote control for the bidet and water pressure, odour removing button. The works. The room was excellent, every amenity you could want  all compressed into a snug space, you were forever finding a flashlight or a hidden cupboard, all very functional and brilliantly designed to maximise the space.

Osaka-jo castle.

So, Osaka, not first on the list of many visitors to Japan, nonetheless we thought it was a very nice city. I was still suffering with the food poisoning so but managed to drag myself all 3 days we were here to see the sights. The first day we visited Osaka-jo castle, pretty impressive, but there are much more impressive castles in Japan from what I can gather, and most of this one was restored fairly recently. Still well worth a visit tho. After this we went to visit the Liberty Museum of Osaka, a small museum dedicated to Human Rights Issues in Japan, from the disabled, sexism and the ‘untouchable’ caste. Although very interesting with a lot of photos and exhibits, there was very little explanation in English so the finer details were lost on us. Before going in we stopped at a lovely little café in the middle of an empty block, a bit like the house in UP before he flies away.

The wonderful little Cafe in the middle of nowhere. "Hello little boy, are you lost?","Up yours copper, pull my finger..."

Second day we went to visit another temple complex at Sitenno-ji  and the park at Tennoji-koen with it’s botanical gardens and nice walkways. Then we went to see the very cool retro looking Tsutenkaku Tower built pre-war and rebuilt  in the 50’s after the war. Lovely building, and even cooler by night when it’s lit up. After this we walked round that area, had some late lunch and coffee (well, Susan did, I was still ropey). Interesting area, bit like Soho, long lost it’s 50s glamour and has gone to seed, full of video arcades, strip clubs, cheap shops and bars. I bet it comes to life by night tho, but we don’t get to see that side of it. Still feeling wiped out we headed back to the warmth of the hotel, it’s very cold out on the streets and even colder with the wind.

The next morning we left Osaka for Kyoto, I was steel feeling terrible and was dreading the journey, carrying the heavy backpack, with no energy and after eaten next to nothing for 4 days, but it went ok.

Sanjusan-jo Temple in Kyoto, and a nice old building somewhere in the backstreets.

Kyoto is a lovely city rightfully high on the tourist visiting list, there are lots of temples, gardens and places to visit, so we opted to stay for 5 nights to take it all in. Arriving around lunchtime, we checked in to our hotel, one of the Citadines chain, well worth every penny. They are sort of mini apartments instead of rooms. Brilliant idea, although compact, you get a cooker, fridge, toaster, kettle etc so you can make your own meals if you like. We tended to make our own breakfast, have lunch out and make some pot noodles or eggs on toast in the evening. It also means you can have a cuppa whenever you like, which pleased Susan no end. They also have a laundry room in the basement, perfect. So, after unpacking our stuff we wandered down to the main station to see the Kyoto tower, had a look around the shops and headed back to the room.

Next day we headed right out to see one of the main attractions in Kyoto, Sanjusan-jo temple to see the 1001 beautiful gold gilded statues, well worth the entrance fee. from there it was a nice walking route to the temple complex at Kiyomizu-dera one of Kyoto’s defining sights.and situated high in the hills surrounding the city. So, a bit of a hike with Curtis and the buggy, but worth it again for the views and for the temple itself. It’s very cold again and we need to buy Curtis a snow suit as he seems to be feeling the cold, as are we I might add. So we found a local Uni-qlo and did just that, although they were out of the nice Blue suits in his size, so he had to settle for a lovely padded Pink number, he didn’t seem to care tho, and at least he’s warm!

Curtis in his, in no way effeminate, Pink snow suit. Ornamental snad cone and raked grey sand in the gardens at Ginkaku-ji

Next day we went North of the city to see Ginkaku-ji, another important temple wit6h a nice silver roofed pavilion. The temple also had a really nice Japanese garden with raked sand, ponds and a sand cone sculpture. After leaving there we wandered down the ‘Philosophers Path’ back down towards the city. I guess this nice path thu the hills is lovely in the summer, but when we walked it most of the quaint shops and coffee houses where closed, and after 15 mins or so it became a bit tedious, especially as it had started to rain. After a long walk back to the centre of Kyoto, and with no sign of anywhere to eat along the way, we went back to the hotel via a supermarket and cooked food there.

The following morning, we had a bit of a washout (quite literally) due to the fact that it was still raining, and we tried to visit Nijo-jo a huge old Samurai residence, but after several wrong stops, we arrived to find it was tipping it down, so we decided it wasn’t worth getting soaked to get to it and opted for Plan B. Susan headed off to a Museum with Curtis (including a museum of kaleidoscopes!) and I went off to find several record stores, so we were both happy!

Donkeys, sorry Deer, know their own. The temple of Todai-ji in Nara

The next morning we decided on a day trip to Nara, 35km South of Kyoto, home of the huge Bronze Buddha at Todai-ji, and a big fella he was too. The temple itself is set in a very nice park full of very tame deer (which Curtis loved), smaller temples, nice gardens and a pretty five storey pagoda, perfect for wandering about in, which we duly spent an hour or two doing. After this we spent some time trying to find a restaurant that did something vaguely vegetarian for me to eat. Japan definitely isn’t the easiest place to get veggie food I gotta say, my diet of late has consisted of sweet bread & cake from the local 7 elevens and pot noodles! We got the train back to Kyoto, had dinner in a pasta place at the station and went back to the hotel for our last night in the city.

"Oi. big man, can't you read the sign". Susan at Todai-ji temple.

Statue in Todai-ji (somethings annoyed him that's for sure) , typical little shop in Nara, lanterns, lots of them.....

Leaving town blues – our last few weeks in Bali

(L-R) Our little snake in the basket. "Look, it's not you,. it's me ok? I'm not ready for a relationship..." Freee!!! Hello ladies!

First of all apologies for the lack of blogging activity, but, well, we’ve not had too much to report. Well, ok, one very lovely thing but more of that later! Basically thanks to the kindness of Vanessa’s partner Mal, we’ve had his villa to ourselves for almost 2 months, and basically we’ve just been living here much as we would in the UK. OK. Without the rain, crackheads and packed tubes, but you know what I mean. We’ve just taken the chance to relax and live life as the locals do, ok, again, not like the locals, more like the ex-pats!

 (L-R) You do bump into ex-girlfriends in the strangest of places. Balian Butthead god. God of the Precious.

We’ve spent our days playing with Curtis, swimming in the pool, and eating at the local warungs, and our evenings cooking food and watching DVDs. It’s been brilliant and we don’t want to leave. Some days we’ve got a taxi to the main part of Sanur or walked to the Pastry shop, but mainly we’ve spent the time in the villa. Although now Curtis is crawling, as any parent will tell you, he takes all of one of our time to keep an eye on him (usually Susan I must admit) so it’s not all lolling about on the sun lounger. I’ve spent s lot of time researching Japan, hotels, sights, record shops etc. But we have managed time for another couple of day trips.

Inside a temple in Ubud. What's he got to be so happy about? Curtis learns to stand on his own two feet. Well, almost.

We did manage a 2 day trip to Ubud, we’d been meaning to go back after our day trip there some weeks ago, and as Susan’s friends (and Curtis’s Godparents) Matt & Roger were out in Bali for a week, we decided to combine the two. Ubuds a very nice place, touristy, but in a small coffee shops, trendy boutiques, and art galleries sort of way. It’s surrounded by rice fields and hills which make for beautiful short walks. We visited  a really great art museum and an equally nice temple. On our way back we ran into a street cremation ceremony, big deals in Bali.

Art Museum, Ubud.

Various pics from Tirta Ganga, the water palace in North Bali. Those are huge Carp by the way.

Our final day trip was to The Water Palace at Tirta Ganga, a pleasant couple of hours drive with Dusty our driver, nice place to wander round, but we were done in half hour so we pondered where to go next. Dusty suggested Padang Bai a small port village not far from there, we’d heard of it so we agreed and off we went. Very nice place, chilled out surfing sort of village, with a small jetty. Lots of good fishing to be had offshore, so we were told. Had lunch in a local restaurant run by a British lady who was heading home in a few weeks after 8 years in Bali.

The beach at Padang Bai in North Bali. Our long time driver Dusty (who sings in a local Reggae covers band) & Curtis (who doesn't)

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, this is possibly where I caught a particularly bad bought of food poisoning that would hit me for the next 6 days  (delaying this last blog even longer). Can’t be sure, but it seems likely. Typical, nothing for 2 months and the last couple of days in Bali and I get Bali Belly! I was knocked for 6 that evening, and all of the next day, and we had to pack everything up too, so that took a bit of extra energy that I didn’t really have. Susan did most of the collecting stuff together and I put  everything into it’s place in the rucksack.. I was too ill to go round to Nessies for our goodbye dinner too, so Susan went with Curtis.. It was all girls too, so I’m sure Nessie though I was faking it! The next morning at 3.30am we got up to go to the airport with Dusty to head off to the final section of our trip – Japan!

Mods? In Bali? Scooter shop in Sanur, loads more inside too. We saw this sign in Ubud, and Susan wanted a photo. But, when we thought about it, a vampire as a symbol for the care of the mentally disabled

One of them is a foul mouthed, acid tongued foreign demon... and the other id a Balian god. Wahay! Sleeping beauty (and his beast). Curtis loves being carried about, it's the only way to travel.