Mads' First Post

Yeah, I've been a bit lazy. I thought I'd be right into this whole blogging thing, but I find that when I get back to my room after a day of touristying, I can barely form a sentence let alone wax lyrical about my experiences in a remotely interesting and articulate manner.

We built this city. We built this city on rock and roll.

So, I'm in Kyoto. I think I like it here better than Tokyo. I did like Tokyo but it was sort of like living in a nightclub. It seems cool to begin with but after a while the bright lights and cigarette smoke and squealing girls get a bit too much, you realise you haven't slept for 72 hours because they keep playing A Flock of Seagulls and you keep dancing.

Kyoto is more like living in a dingy little cafe. There's still music, there's still smoke but there's also a corner you can crawl into and relax and only be stepped on my the guy delivering the milk every now and then.

Takayama was interesting. It reminded me a little of Olinda in the Dandenongs. A pretty spot for people to come for a while, look at the pretty trees, have some coffee and buy a tea cup. The place we stayed in was awesome. I think Blake may have already mentioned it. A 200 year old mountain village home with a thatched roof. It was brilliant. I did get a little tired of having to take my shoes off and put my shoes on and take my shoes off and then put on other shoes for walking around the house and then take those off to put another pair on when I enter the bathroom etc. but it was worth it. The autumn here is fantastic.

I had a little issue with my camera (i.e. I forgot to take the cable with me) so I bought another... only to find that it doesn't work. So forgive me, this isn't a picture book. My photos are AWESOME though. Trust me.

We've seen plenty of temples and shrines and surrounding gardens, many laneways, alleys, arcades, department stores, markets and convenience stores. We've eaten noodles, rice, more noodles and rice, some tempura, some pizza, some curry, some sushi and Blake had a yam pancake with dancing fish skin on it. Serious, I hadn't been drinking absinthe. It DANCED.

Today I saw a real Geisha, we went to some book shops and some shrines and I bought some in-soles for my shoes because I've had some bad feet/ankle/knee aches from all the walking in non-walking shoes.

Highlights:

Gardens
The transport system
Poifull
Department Stores
Ships, Oi & Uni Qlo
Crepes
Neon Lights
H&M
The Beatles are played EVERYWHERE
The drive from Tokyo to Takayama - Mountains!
Shibuya
Sushi trains
Ice-cream dumplings

Lowlights:

Horse meat
Crowds
Exchange rate
Smokers
Incense
Fishy smells
Red bean (the fruit of broken promises. "IS IT CHOCOLATE?? No... red bean." "Is it JAM??? No... red bean". "Oh".)
Neon lights
H&M Queue
Taking off shoes
Camera problems
Sleeping on the floor.

Books read: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman.

Reading: The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain De Botton

Will read: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, Echo Park by Michael Connelly and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

Listening to: Deerhoof, The Clean, Damien Jurado, Jenny Lewis, Air France, Jay Reatard, the Monkees, Jonathan Richman.

Ok, I think thats all. I 'll try and post less sporadically in future. It'd be good if I could fix this photo problem too.

Much love,

Mads.