Enjoying the sunshine before the rain

Kombanwa!

There's 2 more sleeps till my long-awaited Japan trip. It's the point of no return where by this stage you've booked everything, researched extensively and trying to justify each item you pack. Packing is such a hassle. Do I bring 4 or 5 t-shirts? Will the weather be mild enough for light jackets or will I need that winter coat that's destined to be worn once and hauled around for the rest of the 18 day-long trip?

Apart from that I'm relatively calm considering I spent yesterday running around trying to find an Ipod Touch for $318 as advertised in the Big W catalogue. No one matches prices on Ipods. It is also apparent that good customer service is a myth. I finally hunted one down, it was the last one. Hurrah! I'm slowly becoming an addict. After all its pretty much the iPhone without the phone component and less memory since I have the 8GB one.

Also I have a new camera - a Nikon Coolpix S710. Okaasun bought it for me in Singapore and it came with a case, a mini tripod, a mem card for about $490 and without tax (due to a duty free claim) it worked out so much cheaper. I love the big screen and that it's lightweight. My old camera had four AA batteries that weighed it down.

I'm all gadgeted up, now if only I had a Australia to Japan power adaptor instead of a Singapore to Japan one...

Today I went to Freo for fish and chips and over to gaze down at the view from Monument Hill.



Me:
Mink Pink ruffle top
Rock and Republic denim skirt
Charles and Keith sandals
Charles and Keith handbag
Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses

Okaasun:
Big W ra ra top
French Connection capri pants
Bulga handbag
Chanel sunglasses



The best photos are taken when you're not posing, but I was trying not to laugh here!!!

Je mata. I might do my next post from Japan if wifi works from my Ipod Touch...

The Lady and the Monk

Recently I was perusing through my local library and I came across the book The Lady and the Monk by Pico Iyer. It had the musty library book smell to it. I love that smell almost more than new-book-smell.

In The Lady and the Monk, Iyer, travels to Kyoto to study Zen Buddhism. He meets many foreigners who travel to Japan for many reasons - work, religion, study but most prevalent are the lonely hearts foreigners who are looking for love.

Iyer himself ends up inadvertently falling for a married Japanese lady, which he treats rather delicately in the book. He describes the feminine domain in Japan as one that he has been privileged to be a part of through Sachiko-san. She's a delightful character caught somewhere between duty and desire and her undying love of music.

The Lady and the Monk presents Japan as country full of cultural complexities. Iyer recounts the politeness of the Japanese people, their acute love for all kinds of Western culture, their sense of tradition and conformity and also their faith.

What I loved about the book was how refreshing it was, especially to read a travel book that wasn't just about jumping from hostel to hostel and painting caricatures of locals. The humour is really subtle too, reflecting on gaijin particularly. There is also less focus on "history lessons" and capturing the essence of Kyoto in the early 90's.

This book is a great pre-Japan read or even a dreaming-of-Kyoto read and I kind of wish it didn't have to end.

1 more week!

Backpacking it

When I went on the what-happens-on-contiki tour in late 06/early 07 I bought a medium sized suitcase with me. I pack relatively light and everyone else with a suitcase on tour packed all but the kitchen sink. One tourmate said that my suitcase could fit in his carry-on case. Others had hairdryers, kettles, clothes lines, tea/coffee and an assortment of prescribed drugs.

No drugs as of yet, only backpacks. I learnt my lesson, you can't depend on anyone to carry your bag. I wheeled that poor suitcase up stairs in NYC subway stations, across the dodgy district of San Francisco, up to hotel rooms on floors with no elevators all over Europe. When it got slashed apart in a hotel room burglary in Prague I think the suitcase breathed its last breath.

Both Wei and I invested in the very reasonably priced $125 EPE Alpha 65L backpacks from Wellington Army Surplus Store. Contrary to popular belief, there is no one-armed salesman behind the counter like in The Simpsons. The store is massive though and sells everything you would need to survive on a deserted island.



Now we just need to keep the weight down to 15kg, with 5 kg for shopping! That's about a third of my body weight on my back.

Meanwhile Wikitravel has been amusing me immensely during my trip preparations. Kawasaki anyone? We'd be missing the phallic festival though.

I do like the no bulls approach on wikitravel, the Kyoto page is incredibly helpful. Who needs a lonely planet guidebook that was outbid by another buyer on ebay?

27 sleeps to go!