Organised Chaos to Chaos

3rd August 2008


Leaving Namie was very sad, it feels like I am graduating Japan to what I don't know yet. Spend Saturday night with the coasties for one last leavers dinner at a really nice Italian restaurant near Tsukuba and saw where Makiko lives - cute house.

Last bit of Japan travelling included Hijime castle, Kiyomizudera in Kyoto and eating Kobe beef. Which of the three was the best leaving experience. Castles and temples all look the same to me these days and these ones had way too many tourists. The restaurant called 'Steak Land' not a place for the non-meat eater, cook the steak right in front of you, yum yum yum.

Being on a boat for three days took it's toll, I was pretty much knocked out by the waves the second day, the third day I was ready to get back on land. Small boat, mix of people, including a big University group going to Mongolia for a horse tour. The Japanese people that I met on the Ferry were all much more liberal that the people I've met in Fukushima, it was nice to know they exist. Other gaijins included Brits, Spanish, American, Canadians, Aussies, all going for different reasons, some the Olympics others for a trip to Moscow.

Taijin the ferry port on the China end of the boat trip from reading I thought would be this sleepy, little fishing town, but not the case, it is a big busy city, the main train station was hour and half taxi ride away and felt just as busy as Beijing. All the express trains were booked out, we thought we might be able to get a taxi but no luck, and in that time we missed the 18.00 local train to Beijing. In the end got the 21.05 local to Beijing West. Turned out to be a really fun train ride even though it was hour and half longer. The Chinese people were really friendly and were not at all nervous about talking to us in English - totally opposite to the Japanese train experience. A really cute family were sitting opposite me and I played cards with the little girl most of the trip. Those who were standing were serious on-lookers to the games and at one point corrected me when I played a wrong move, opps.