Hakuba - a man's gots to know his limitations!

Well, sorry for the delay but I have spent a good portion of the last week behind the wheel of my Suzuki pushing up hills and waiting at traffic lights.

The drive from Tsuruoka took me along the west coast of Japan down to Nagano-ken. I was heading for a place called Hakuba, very popular in the Winter for skiing and snow sports, and a refreshingly cool place in Summer.

The drive wasn't too bad, but an all-day affair. I found myself on a very slow route at one point, and decided I'd swap over to the expressway for a time. They are not cheap, but the expressways will get you where you want to go probably three to four times faster than the normal roads. So I sped down the expressway and cut a couple of hours out of the day. By the time I was on a normal road again it was the last 40km to Hakuba, on a road winding through mountains and tunnels. Behind a long row of trucks, I rarely did more than 30km an hour. Such are the roads in Japan.

I arrived at around 7pm at my hostel. It was clean, with a good kitchen, I had a cheap single room with proper beds and ensuite. I didn't realise how much I was missing a real, comfortable bed!

Ski jumps, Hakuba

Hakuba is in Nagano-ken, which played host to the 1998 Winter Olympics. Whilst the Summer games were going on in London, I stepped back 14 years to see some of the old places used for the Olympics in Nagano-ken, such as these ski jumps. Mad sport really, every bone could quite easily be broken. And they don't get nearly as much stopping space as I expected!

 The second day at Hakuba was time for more hiking, and I chose the popular Karamatsu-dake (mountain). First I took this 'gondola lift' pictured above. It rattled and speak and jolted for 15 minutes and left me a little shaky, I must admit! After that two sets of ski lifts were easy going, mainly because my feet could touch the foliage!

The boarded track

 After that it was about a 45 minute walk (although they advised 65-80) to the first point of interest, Happo-ike, a big pond. The clouds rolled in and out all the time I was up there. The track was mostly boardwalked to the pond, and naturally basically straight up.

Happo-ike

 It was a nice view, but I was hoping for better things, like the full ascent to Katamatsu! I was feeling much better than the previous walks, so I didn't even stop, I pushed on! Up and up and up. Within 15 minutes it was getting really hard for me. I was at over 2000 metres but altitude shouldn't have affected me, so I put it down to the incredible decline in my fitness. I was feeling in and could barely move. It was all pretty much uphill, steeper than before, no board walks. I passed people and thought maybe I could make it to the intermediate peak, Maru-yama. I got to my limit though, stopped just about a section of snow. The temperature would have been around 16 degrees, but the snow hadn't completely melted.

A peak through the clouds, from the pond.

A man's got to know his limitations and I started back down. It had taken 45 minutes from the pond to that point, less than half of that to return to the pond where the clouds broke briefly and allowed me to see a few surrounding peaks. Beautiful area. I would naturally discover that I was possibly very close to that peak and if I'd persisted another ten or so minutes, maybe less, I would have made it. Such is life.
Hakuba was a very pleasant, cool, green place to visit. A great choice in the middle of August. But two days was not enough. The following day would see me drive all the way to Yokohama.
But that will be another blog post....

Temple, beach, mountain, mountain.

Hello friends, it's been a long two days but before I sleep I must blog, I guess. LOL. Today I drove a long long way to find myself in Nagano-ken, in a town called Hakuba. However today's blog is about yesterday's adventure, which left me tired with two of the sorest calves I could imagine. That's the sort that are part of my legs, not baby cows!

At Zenpo-ji.

 First, as the rain gently fell, I drove out to Zenpo-ji, a temple a few kilometres from Tsuruoka. It was a very nice temple, there was only one other person visiting, worth a look for sure. It had a five-storied pagoda like all good temples complexes must have in Japan! Lovely little garden (above). The temple dates from the 10th century. Opposite is an interesting long abandoned train station with an old engine inside, not going anywhere. Totally overgrown with so many trees, I expect it's been at least 20 years since it's been in use. After seeing so many temples, I must admit to finding that more interesting...

 I drove along the coast. Not a hot day, mid-twenties, a bit of rain about, I stopped at the beach to take a couple of photos, the first time I have seen the Sea of Japan and the West Coast. Quite a violent looking sea, but the opposite side to the Tohoku coast of just a couple of posts again.

 I also noticed these big concrete things. You can see them in the ocean they seem to form some sort of wave blocks. Not sure if they are meant as tsunami blocks - they would have little effect I think on a serious Tsunami, however, the waves seem to always be crashing heavily all the time so I presume they prove rather effective.

Torii Gate, Yudono-san.

 Then it was time to head back up to the mountains. I headed to the third of the three holy peaks, Mt Yudono. This one is the mountain of rebirth, and at around 1500 metres is the second biggest of the mountains. I took a wrong turn and went half-way up a different mountain. Yes, the lots of wrong turns on this journey, navigating Japan is not easy. However, eventually I found my way up this toll road for a few kilometres. Considering we pay to use it, they could occasionally repair the road...
I arrived at the Torii gate where it was bus or foot power from then on in up the mountain. I new I wasn't going to get to the peak, but I looked at the map and saw there is a section where people climb ladders attached to the rocks. I wanted to see that, about three quarters of the way up.

 Up! Yes up and up and up! I went up the road. Then up some steps, down some steps to a little temple where people were getting blessed. From there it was a small, rocky path. I kept on, I had been climbing for over an hour. I finally reached the waterfall above. Amazing. A damn up the mountain, letting the water pour through a gap in the middle. Amazing because the path was only good for one walking person, but this stone wall was two metres thick. How the hell had they made it?
From there the path got worse, it was basically a creek. I had sneakers on and was worried about coming down, too easy to re-injure my ankle. Not good footwear for serious hiking. The previous day I had been warned by the man at the information centre that there would be snow here. Well it seemed unlikely, it all seemed dry - apart from the rover and creek of course. When I returned to the bottom I looked at the map to find I must have only been a couple of hundred metres away from those ladders! But in fairness I was climbing over steep wet rocks. Probably the right choice. No-one else on that part of the trail if I did hurt myself.

 I picked up an American guy at the car park who had run out of money and needed a ride into Tsuruoka. He'd hiked across the three mountains. He said it was very difficult. We stopped at this nice lake on the drive down.

Gas-san.

 It was getting late, but I made a push for the second (and third for me) Mountain, Gas-san. At over 1900 metres it's the tallest if the three, and it represents Death. Maybe not the one to finish on. The drive up was hairy to say the least. Winding road for about 20 kilometres I was thinking about turning back. But finally I arrived at 'Station Eight' where there's toilets, a building and a few vending machines where drinks are three times the normal cost.
The hitchhiker I had picked up said there was a boardwalk circuit there that would take about an hour, so I decided to the do that. Plenty of vegetation, but only at waist height, and there was snow there much to my surprise. It felt about 18 degrees up there. It was the most pleasant of the three mountains, I wished I had the time to climb to the peak, but it was over two hours from Station Eight. The weather switched and changed about six times in the one hour I'd been there, and I was warned not to go by the lady at my Guesthouse as it would be raining,

Gate at Zenpo-ji

The drive down was much easier than up. Poor car sounded far more healthy too. Hardly any traffic on the road, none at all on the way down. Another day of adventure! Boy were my calves in pain! So that was that, a night of sleep would take me to... today....

road trip!

I sit here in my little Ryokan room in a town on the west coast of Japan called Tsuruoka. It's been a long, hot, tiring but rewarding day. 

Road trip! I left my little apartment in Ichinoseki just before 10am and was on the road navigating thanks to google maps -  not too bad but not great - my way through to Yamagata Prefecture. The mercury at one point in the mid to high thirties, my little car may struggle to get up hills but I was thankful for the quality air conditioning! The route across the country was simple enough, and after the first 30km or so the roads cleared up and despite only being one lane I was able to move at a decent, if not lightning-quick pace.

lake near where the car was parked.

I traveled on the smaller roads, but made good time. It was a pretty journey and interesting.The roads mostly sat in valleys next to rivers. The quality of the free roads here though is a bit poor to be honest. Lots of make-shift repair jobs and thus many roads were like patchwork quilts, and not so smooth. Naturally very windy, I could really appreciate that I was on one of the world's youngest countries. Extremely mountainous because everything had been pushed up from below without the time to flatten out. The roads had snow barriers alongside, far from needed in August, but essential in 6 months I'm sure. Every little bit of flat land is used for rice or corn. Or maybe wheat. I am still yet to see a farm animal like a cow or sheep in Japan. They are hiding somewhere.

Museum

It was time for a stop. One of the main plans for this trip was to see a couple (at least) of the three sacred peaks in Yamagata Prefecture known as 'Dewa Sanzan'. Today I thought I would get in the smallest - Harugo-san, at 414 metres. I came to a camping ground at its base, and then a sort of information centre. The signage was poor, but I followed a small sign at the rear of the camping ground (which I'd walked back to up and down a steep hill) and through the forest I went.

It's dense, almost jungle-like in these parts. Alive with insects of all types, the path was pretty average. I read about the path, there were supposed to be loads of people on it. Not a one. Oh Andrew, you did something wrong! Well, the sign said Mt Harugo.

And indeed I ended up in the right place. Seems I didn't START from the right place. I crossed a toll road and followed another path. I was hot and sweaty and it had been over an hour, but I was there. An interesting small museum, many temples, a functioning monastery,  souvenir shops and quite a few people. Very interesting place. Beautiful buildings. I found the correct path and decided to take it back down.

Shrines at Harugo-san

 It was darned steep, and still quite a few coming up. Well patronised, completely made out of stone - no good for the ol' legs. It went on and on and I soon realised - it must have gone down further than I hiked up! Near the end of the path was a beautiful bridge and a five-pillared pagoda - never go out of fashion those. I walked up a hill at the end, but it took a long time to get down, and I feared it was no where near I parked my car.

Main temple at Harugo-san

 I was right! Harugo village is where I found myself! That's where I should have started from. In fact I was told at the information centre I was now 10km from where I had parked my car! What? How was that possible? I thought I had walked 4-5km max. If I'd started there I could have got a decent map with English, but no I had to take the hard route!
Luckily, I was told by the very kind man at the information centre, there was a bus that went past the camping ground. I waited. The bus turned up but said 'end of the line'. Only in winter does it do that route in the afternoon! Woah! But instantly the INCREDIBLY kind man offered me a lift.

The path down (and up to) Harugo-san. 

 Wherever you go you will find kindness, that's one thing I've learnt from my travels. Back to the car, and onto Tsuruoka. This was a great day. Adventure, friendliness, a bit of exercise! Harugo is a bit of a pilgrimage. The three peaks each have their importance - Harugo represents birth, but most pilgrims only make it to Harugo, the other two are much harder to get to and can only be reached in the Summer months. Many pilgrims dress in white. It was a very interesting day. Tomorrow - well you can find out more about tomorrow, tomorrow!

another pagoda to the power of five

Olympic Soapbox

Ahhh Japan. What a country it is. Beautiful mountains everywhere you go, a land that's constantly shifting and moving. Open to the elements, resolute as well. And it needs to be at times! Think of what this country has survived in the past 70 years. It's darned impressive!
Then the curiosities. Last week I saw a man pedalling around on his bike in his dressing gown with a cigarette in his mouth. Bikes cross the roads, use the footpaths and often can be found riding on the right-hand side of the road too. They're a law unto themselves. BUT try to organise something like a money transfer and every little thing has to be perfect! Cross you i's and dot your t's. Hmmm wait no..... Anything involving a form generally also involves a team of people looking at it and working out exactly what should be done. It's paperwork galore here. I'm trying to hire a room. It doesn't have a dvd but it does have a video player. Yet go shopping for electronics and you can ONLY find the absolute latest models. Contradictions galore!
On Sunday I head off to Yamagata-ken, starting a slow, west coast journey before swinging back to Yokohama. It hopefully will make for some good blogs. But today I thought I would depart from standard blogging and get all opinionated!

The Olympics. I'm not a huge fan to be honest. I really like the idea of all nations getting together - I think that's fantastic. But this year especially I think in Australia we are seeing what I don't like about the games.
Last I looked Australia, after four days, had won 13 medals, but only one gold. The media and public are going nuts about it. It's not good enough apparently! I read an article about how the athletes were only concerned about partying, having a good time. FOR SHAME! If we don't win enough gold medals the country will dissolve I expect. The British press were on the back of their team even more after a very bad start for the first three days, it has since improved.
After kicking up such a fuss, The Age (a Melbourne newspaper) also printed an article about how the sportsmen were bad losers. Huh? That's the pot calling the kettle black ain't it? Who's at fault for these 'not quite as good as we hoped' results? For pete's sake.....
This is a world celebration. Let's remember this. We can all get together for two weeks and in that time blow no-one's heads off. Speaking of which things are very bad in Syria right now, but that's hardly as important as Emily Seebolm only getting silver is it?

What is swimming anyway? I went swimming four times this week. No-one gave me a medal. Is it a personal validation for being able to go .001 of a second faster over 100 metres? Are you a worthwhile human being now? Don't get me wrong, people like Michael Phelps are amazing athletes. Of course they are. I just don't understand the obsession with being faster than other people. And then one person in the whole bloody world is faster than you and you are a failure? What? It makes no sense to me at all.

Then you have the fact of such an uneven playing field. If we can learn anything from the cold war it's that money makes all the difference when it comes to taking a good athlete and making them the best. For decades the USSR and USA spent fortunes so that as countries they could feel validated that they took the most gold medals home. What sort of priority is this? Are the populations so secretly insecure. Now China is in on the act. This time the UK is too, but they are hosting and maybe next time it will be less so.

Who remembers Eric the Eel? Eric the Eel was a swimmer from the small country of Equatorial Guinea in West Africa at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He had to swim his heat on his own because the other two swimmers in it were disqualified after false starts. Eric swam and swam and swam. He'd never even been in a pool until he arrived in Sydney! He broke the Equatorial Guinea record. The crowd went wild cheering this guy going a lot slower than most other swimmers, on his own, from a country I doubt they could find on a map. Now THAT was a fine Olympic moment in my mind. Not the US dreamteam winning the basketball.

There are so many athletes there with probably amazing stories but if they don't come from Australia, the USA or the UK we won't hear about them. Especially if they don't win anything. People from every country on Earth in one place, and every country's broadcast is only concerned with their country's performance. It's only natural you say. Well then what is the Olympics about? People coming together in celebration, or a whole bunch of athletes just wanting to win? And if it is the later, maybe that's okay. I don't know. But it seems countries - like Australia - throw money at any athlete with a chance to medal.
Then ask yourself. Is that a good way to spend your money? The world ain't in the best economic shape right now. Governments get criticised for spending too much money on international aid. I know the Australian opposition would cut it back if in power. Never heard it suggest cutting back money for sports training.
I'm not anti-sport, every so called 'developed' country does it. Look at China today. Didn't win a huge amount prior to the Beijing Games, now they lead the table because the government decided to put the money there. It makes a huge difference.


So that's the world today. That's how we rate achievements. Winning an Olympic medal is something to be very proud of. Not just for the athlete, but for the patriot in his arm chair.
Wouldn't it be nice to be proud of saying 'my country sent money to Bangladesh and helped out a village destroyed by floods rebuild. Gave it water to drink, built homes, repaired the road so they could get medical supplies.

Why do we feel more proud about an athlete, given an almighty leg-up to win a gold medal, than THAT?


sorry for the soapbox thing. Normal service will be resumed as of next blog.

Not far from where I live...

So blog time again. Hopefully you'll see a few more next week as I will be heading off for around 10 days. It's school holidays here so I get a bit of a break too. Will I escape the heat though? That's the real question!

School kids parade at the Senmaya Festival

I had a few thoughts I want to share with my devoted readers, but I will save that for the next blog post. Last weekend I headed to a place called Senmaya, where I teach, as it was festival time! In Japan every small town seems to have its own festival. It seems almost mandatory in fact! Ichinoseki has its festival this coming Friday, and many other places in the area have been getting into the festival spirit. In Senmaya's case it seemed to be for the elderly people, put on by the school children. Poor kids, it was around 34 degrees with 90% humidity and they found themselves dancing in these thick traditional costumes. No wonder none of them were smiling!

Still, it was interesting if a little under-patronised. Lots of drums but I had missed the majority of it, only deciding whether to go or not at the last minute. Good to get out there and see some of my community.

A factory in Kesenumma, The tsunami punched a hole right in the wall.

 After that I drove to the coast. It's about 50km away from where I live, a place called Kesennuma. It's a place that felt the force of the March 11th Tsunami last year in a devastating way.

The shells of destroyed buildings punctuate a wasteland at Kesenumma.

 When I was first told I was headed to Iwate, I was a little hesitant. We are talking about one of the most affected regions by one of the deadliest natural disasters on this planet in my lifetime. In fact, perhaps only the Boxing Day Tsunami was more devastating. Here in Japan, over 20,000 people dead or missing after March 2011. I was hesitant, but realised full well that Ichinoseki was not that close to the coast. In fact, Kesenumma is in Miyagi prefecture. I felt safe enough going to Ichinoseki. Would I have been brave enough to head to Kesenumma? I don't know. These days I'm not just thinking about myself too.

The stunning wasteland

Other English teaching folks around these parts said they visited Kesenumma, and I decided I wanted to too. For one thing, I wanted to just see the coast, the other was no doubt some sort of morbid curiosity. Living in the area though, I also wanted to get a handle on what exactly happened here 16 months earlier. We drove slowly into town. Things seemed normal...

This is the second floor of a building. The ground floor has been swept away. Somehow the second floor survived.

Then we noticed a bit of damage. It seemed to be on the ground floor of buildings. Some had perfectly intact second floors or higher, but the ground floor was just the supports and little else. Maybe a solid brick wall. Some of the more stable buildings had sort of open air shops inside the ground floor. One place was selling what looked like kites and other festival decorations.

Drove around and found this sort of wasteland area. We were now down at sea level, in what appeared to be an old industrial / port area. Kesenumma was a busy port town before, with a now defunct and sad looking 'Shark Museum'. It was hot and haunting. This wasteland area had a few strong factories still standing, and people working hard clearing debris everywhere. Shells of buildings here and there. One factory was notable as it stood three or four stories high, and had damage and missing walls on the top and bottom floors. I have heard the wave was up to thirty metres high. I saw damage up to at least half that. 

The old piers now sink into the water, but boats still enter the harbour.

The thing is, I didn't see the coast. Kesenumma is not on the coast. It's a harbour, a secluded bay area. It's somewhat protected. It's hilly, at the top of the hill sits houses seemingly untouched. Imagine the horror of watching from there. Boats shift in and out of the harbour, they seemed to be leisure boats of some kind. A small bus of Japanese people got off and took photos. Is this it? I was doing the same. Devastation tourism.

On the 11th of July I was at my other school. We had a minute's silence in remembrance. That was in Ichinoseki. I've been told there was no power for two weeks here and man hole covers burst up from the roads. I've seen one building the earthquake made 'unsafe', but generally, if you weren't looking closely, you mightn't know Ichinoseki was affected. But Kesenumma is another, horrifying story which is hard to comprehend. I saw the videos, the footage of the wave that took cars up and deposited them kilometres away. But now I have a little more of an idea how real it was.

I hope I never get to understand what it was like to experience first hand.

Morioka, Poets and Festivals

Last weekend I was out and about around this great prefecture of Iwate. I had a day in Morioka, although the afternoon was taken by training for my job and an ALT here, and on Sunday I visited the nearby town of Mizasawa where there was a bit of a festival going on that a friend was involved in.

Ladies are bemused by my attempts to photograph a statue in Mizasawa.

 Mizasawa is around 35 minutes drive from my present home in Ichinoseki. The visit was to catch up with a friend who went through training with me, but well, suddenly their were more gaijin folk around, none of whom we knew, and it turned into a 2 hour chat session, with ice cream. The festival had wound down by the time I arrived, so not so much happening although still a fair bit of food on offer.

 What you see above this writing is some sort of photo-booth where they use a really bright flash and turn girls' faces white. Apparently that's rather in and especially the young girls in Japan seem to often get photos of themselves taken in these booths, often with friends. I'm not sure exactly what the photo on the outside of the machine says about the modern-day Japanese Teenage Girl, but I think we can safely assume that she is pretty girly. This is a common promoted sort of image across this country, and let's be honest she looks very cute, right? But am I the only one thinking that this is a little too sexualised? I mean she's a bloody doll!
Just a thought... don't want to get political or nothing!

 On to Morioka. I remember being surprised that Iran was so big on its poets - by the way lovely sculptured tree above, hey? - but so is Japan. And Iwate is the prefecture with a huge history of poets and... well I guess poetry. In Morioka, the capital of Iwate, you can visit a few homes that used to belong to now deceased poets. As for poets these days, well they may be popular but J-pop groups AKB48 and Arashi may just have the edge in popularity.

 This house is where the poet Takuboku used to live. The tatami mats you see are still popular features in Japanese homes. I have some in the bedroom, for example. Most Japanese homes have them in the bedroom still today, although this house had them throughout the 'open to the public' section. The little fire place is less common today.
I should comment on shoes in Japan. I have two pairs of black shoes to wear to work, then at school I change into my 'inside shoes'. Then at home people wear slippers BUT not the same ones for the balcony, or the toilet. Then on tatami mats no shoes is the usual go. All I know is, I am changing my footwear a LOT. Sigh. If there's one thing I miss about Australia it's using the same shoes all day. That and the earth being relatively stable.

 Hey ho! Yes festival time in Morioka too. Please don't ask me what the festival was for... oh wait no I know this one! The start of the Summer. Yes, there is some serious irony in the fact that it rained most of the day.

 There were drums and dancing and horses and people turned out to see it all too! Right down the main shopping strip of Morioka! What a buzz!

Earlier I visited this house, now a sort of gallery. The former home of Kenji Miyasawa. He wrote poetry and children's books and died in 1933. His house was nice, the gardens were very nice. All in all, nice! Worth a stop if you're wandering around Morioka at any rate.

In other news I have been getting my act into gear with the book and some new chapters are available. I also have my own author's page now so please visit it at

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008BD3O56

And as always I am grateful for all support. Will let you know about the chapters I have uploaded recently in my next post!

Cheers!

Around Ichinoseki - Genbi Gorge and Hiraizumi

Hey folks. So long since I last blogged. I should be shot, I know. People manage to blog every day, what's wrong with me?? Well I'm blogging today! So... yay me!

Well I wanted to talk about two places near Ichinoseki that I visited recently. Firstly we have the stunning Genbi Gorge just up the road a little. About 20 minutes from town centre I think the water is a beautiful green-blue as you can see and rages down the river in fine style.

Lucky to go in May before the throngs arrive I suspect. Well, not really sure about the throngs BUT it's an idyllic little place for a picnic, with a suspension bridge and a restaurant that sends things over the river by basket if you so desire. Lots of touristy shops there and a few places for a nice ice cream - a must when you go site-seeing in Japan.

A similar distance from Ichinoseki in a slightly different direction is the town of Hiraizumi, probably the most interesting of towns in the whole of the Iwate Prefecture. An ancient capital and seat of power around the 11th century, Hiraizumi is a very significant place not just in Iwate, but Japan.

The main drawcard is the temples. I visited the Chosun-ji temple complex, up a hill and into the forest. It's surprising because the land around is flat and not so attractive, and in the middle rises these hills which are stunning. Just going for a drive around these hills after seeing the temples was magical. Chosun-ji is a world heritage site, the centre-piece a gold painted temple now housed inside a wooden building. There are bell houses, a small museum and some great views as well. Not to mention other temples sitting above small lakes and some stunning tall trees. It's highly recommended!

As for school life, it certainly has its ups and downs. Class size varies from 8 to 42 students (very different) and some of the bigger classes are all boys - definitely a challenge! Yesterday I went to a sports day held by the special school I teach at (sorry not allowed to post photos). It was a great day, the kids all felt involved and that they contributed, which is great. It was odd at times, there was a cheering competition and also a couple of events that were reminiscent of 'It's a knockout', but the main thing was that the students were able to participate and enjoy it, and they did. And I was in the winning side for the PTA tug-of-war!

So it's been a steep learning curve here, but lucky to be in a nice location. Until the next blog!!!! (not too far away!)

Bulgaria

Snow-capped mountains above Rila Monastery

Back in 2004 I visited a lot of countries on my Dhaka to Dakar tour, and now that I am back into publishing my book in chapter form I thought this would be a great opportunity to revisit some of the places I visited. One such place, the first stop in Europe, was the not-so-often visited country of Bulgaria.

Impressive Roman ruins above a highway!

 Bulgaria borders quite a few countries including Turkey (where I had just been), Greece and Romania (where I would head after Bulgaria). It was May-June 2004 and the weather was just warming up. Great weather in fact for visiting Plovdiv, an attractive university city with a smattering of Roman ruins and the capital Sofia, a charming city that I highly recommend to the traveler.

Veliko Tarnovo

 Sofia was full of churches and typical tourist fare, but on an easy day trip from the city I visited the Rila Monastery, a magical little place up in the mountains. I also visited Veliko Tarnovo, a smaller town with an impressive ancient citadel and beautiful perched on river banks. The weather there wasn't so great but the setting certainly was.

Restored house in Plovdiv.

If you'd like to know more about my time in Bulgaria, the chapter (7 in the series) is now available by itself for 99 cents on the Amazon kindle store, or 99 pence on the UK store.

US Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SNSGVW

UK Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007SNSGVW

Teaching in Japan, first impressions!

So here I am in sunny (no really!) Ichinoseki, Japan. The weather is chilly but not too much rain since I moved here which is good. I find myself at two schools during the week. One is a high school with some classes as big as 42 students, and once a week a special needs school with classes ranging from 1 to 6 student! Yes quite a contrast!
The teachers are very dedicated to the work in Japan. Actually most of Japan is dedicated to their work. It's an interesting part of the culture here, a country of workaholics! Imagine the teachers work around 9-10 hours a day and regularly need to supervise events and work weekends. One teacher I spoke to at my high school worked two twelve-hour days last weekend.
School is full-on for the students too. They will always have activities after school, most days, as well as weekend activities as well. I walked into some of my classes to see one or two students asleep at their desk! I don't blame them. I begin to see why I saw so many people falling asleep in public places when I visited last year. The train often has a number of people asleep, and McDonald's often hosts people sleeping. I saw a couple both asleep at their table at the Akihabara McDonald's last time I was in Tokyo.

The schools are well set-up places, a big difference in funding compared to Georgia! Lots of big buildings for classrooms and sport. CD players, copiers, laptops for every teacher. Can't help but be impressed. The teachers at both schools, but especially the special needs school, are incredibly dedicated. This year is going to be hard work, a lot of learning, but I hope very rewarding too!


Also - Readers might remember I published a book last year for Kindle. That book is still available and now under three dollars. Check it out if you have Kindle or Kindle for PC (free to download) or other devices.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MJ0RKM

or in the UK store:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005MJ0RKM

Please support the writer of this blog! I have also published the next chapter of the book. Will soon send a link to it!

Japan... the return!

A cherry blossom in Tokyo

So folks I am back in  Japan with a new life. I've had all manner of weather and earth-shakes (not quite as good as milk shakes) since I arrived. I have a little apartment in Ichinoseki and am waiting for my wife to join me. I have seen the cherry blossoms in Tokyo and visited some of Yokohama's attractions that I missed the first time around. There was a crazy week of training after which I traveled to the Iwate prefecture capital, Morioka. There was karaoke and a lot of snow.

Following that I moved to Ichinoseki and my new apartment. It's standard for a Japanese apartment, a decent size even. Two main rooms, a kitchen and bathroom. Oh and toilet. It's pretty bare right now but starting to fill up. When I was in Tokyo I bought a guitar I hope can help with the school lessons I am to give. The first night I got to Ichinoseki I felt a fair quake. It was a long way away but around 6 I believe. The following Friday there were a few much smaller rumblings throughout the day.

Mt Fuji from the Landmark Tower.

So I moved on down for a week in Yokohama. I took the lift to the top of the Landmark Tower and got a great view over the city. Was lucky to have a fine day and I could even see Mount Fuji from there. This is the best view in many attempts I got of the mountain. I also visited the Ramen Museum. This is a museum dedicated to one of the Japanese people's favourite bowls of noodles, ramen noodles. It was set up like a night time streetscape from the fifties with lots of functioning ramen shops inside. Actually, the bowl I had was a bit below par to be honest. There is a chain of these museums in Japan. Quirky and unique!

Snow in cold Morioka

The Ramen Museum.

So back in Ichinoseki, visiting my schools for the first time tomorrow. I've been driving too the last couple of days. It's all an adventure. Stay tuned, over the next couple of days some news on the book front!

View of Yokohama

Return of the Blog

It is a dark, chilly night. The wind howls around the trees, through the open window of the house. A loud, crashing sound is heard as things fall from the tops of tables. The curtains are parallel to the floor.

Okay not really. but I am sitting inside as the wind and rain ravages Yokohama outside. I am back in Japan and back blogging again. Sorry, it's been so long but when you get married blogging is no longer a priority. A new life is beginning here in Japan for my wonderful wife and me.
We honeymooned in Surfer's Paradise, on the Gold Coast. We had some nice meals and were surprised by just how cold it was. Now I am in Japan and will be starting to teach English very soon. Compared to Georgia this is going to be a very different experience. I hope to get back to working on the book as well.
So, soon you can expect a post of Surfer's, and a bit of info about what I'm doing in Japan and places I visited and experiences I have.

I will be teaching in Iwate, a prefecture north of Tokyo and Sendai. One hit rather badly by the earthquake and tsunami of March last year. Already I was welcomed by an Earthquake last Tuesday. On Friday there were several tremors through the day. Just brief shakes of the apartment. But I'm here. It's all part of the advebture, right?

The End of the Road

There is a karaoke bar in Tokyo called Fiesta's which I visited back in April. I remember the night well - lots of songs, a strange lady declaring I would be back in Japan someday soon.... How right she was! I would return in August in the same year, and when I left the second time I would be engaged! I also remember from this fateful night in April the most popular song was 'The End of the Road', by one of those boy bands whose name escapes me now. Well... it is the end of the road for the 2011 travelling experience from this traveler.

Tbilisi lit up with Christmas approaching

Thankyou kind reader for following me on my 2011 journeys. Perhaps I'll do a review in the next few weeks. Who knows. I say goodbye to my travelling and to Georgia. This country is special in its own way. The students are certainly full of life. The President is a huge celebrity and is rarely off the TV screen, the roads are variable, the transport unpredictable, there is poverty and wealth. I wasn't here for the tourism though, I was here for my amazing teaching experience.

I must make mention of the Georgian teachers at my school, doing a brilliant job for terribly low pay. Less than a hundred dollars a month is no wage to pay dedicated caring teachers, or indeed any teachers. It is an insult to one of the world's most vital professions. Charged with the duty of preparing children to enter adulthood ready and knowledgeable, competent and confident in themselves. I salute teachers all over the world. If only the work done by teachers was properly acknowledged universally.

Any suggestion that teachers are babysitters with a whole bunch of holidays is so ignorant to the truth it makes me rather mad... and this time I am talking about my own country.

Students at the concert at my village last week.

So I will sign off, the next time I post I will be, probably and all things being equal, in my own country of Australia. I would do myself a disservice though if I didn't point you all, once again, to the book I have digitally published. If you are interested in it and DON'T have a Kindle, Kindle for the PC is downloadable for free from Amazon. It represents a lot of work on my part, so please if it interests you do not hesitate - buy it now. It's the size of a novel and only just over five dollars.

The link to the book -
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MJ0RKM

Thankyou and goodnight, for now..............

Teaching and Learning

Today is December the 19th. I sit in my hotel room in Tbilisi typing out another blog entry. Life is strange. Tomorrow I fly out of Georgia, with a couple of hops across China, to find myself once again in my country of Australia. The teaching experience is over for the year, the travelling experience, begun on the 3rd of March, also comes to a close when I touch down in Melbourne, all things going well, Thursday morning.

The school in Jikhanjuri

 So what can be taken from this teaching experience? So much. I've learnt about myself. I've learnt about the amazing people of Georgia. Yes it may have been a teaching role I fulfilled but I did even more learning than teaching.
Last Thursday the school held a concert and a party just for me. It was very humbling. There was singing and a lot of Georgian dancing and then food and wine. Wine is number one here, ahead of Georgian take on Vodka called Tcha tcha which is rather harder to drink. I kept well clear of the later. Seems I have made a lot of good friends here in Georgia. Lots of students were upset I was leaving, lots of hugs and an inordinate amount of photos.

Me with one of my classes on the last day.

 Coming to school the next day with five lessons was rather surreal. Still managed to do some teaching, saying a lot of goodbyes. It's great to have made so many connections, to gain invaluable experience and to see what amazing people live in Georgia. The classes were mixed. Some were attentive, others less so. Students seemed to struggle the longer the day went - classes in the morning were always better behaved. Students are so keen to answer questions putting there hands up, standing up and shouting out the the teacher. Both a good and a bad thing. Seems even the students I had pegged as not the best were even sad to see me go. Some students would never do homework. So frustrating as a teacher. Some were always exceptional.

Georgian dancing at the concert

And so after the concert we ate and people said so many good things about me and wished me only good things for the future. Wow. I was blown away and most of the things said naturally I believed were untrue or gross exaggerations. I went to Batumi and took a night train back here to Tbilisi. Time to prepare for tomorrow's flight and reflect on the past three amazing months.

I will write more tomorrow.