Big Adventures, Little World

Do trams count as trains? And buses as automobiles? Because if so, my title is correct, if not, don’t question me! Friday was the day we began making our journey down the the Southern island of Japan, Kyushu. Up early again, (seems to be a regular occurrence, not bad for two jobless bums!) we had to catch the bus to the airport in Tokyo, then jump on the plane to Nagasaki airport. So after a quick stop off at the konbini (convenience store) for supplies we were on the bus.

The bus ride took a couple of hours and we traveled through some beautiful mountains on the way. The mountains were all around, but unfortunately, mostly covered by clouds. Seeing them from a distance still made for amazing views though, and I no time we had arrived in Tokyo.

We caught the monorail to the airport, which was yet another form of public transport here in Japan. We boarded the plane for a fast and smooth flight, arriving at Nagasaki airport in the evening. We got onto another bus to take us to the city centre of Nagasaki so we could find the hostel.

We got the station where we jumped on what we thought was the right tram to head to our hostel. While in fact it was the right number tram, it was going the wrong way, which we realised after a couple of stops. We quickly got off and crossed the lines to catch one back the other way. With trams coming every 6 minutes, this was easy, and before we knew it we were getting off again. We started the short walk to the hostel where a nice man offered to show us the way as it was a bit difficult to find. We checked in, put our stuff down and made our way out again just as quickly to get a bite to eat.

The past few days have been busy, busy, busy with helping Belinda pack up her life of the last 2 years into boxes and suitcases. This was no easy task, as in that time anyone can accumulate a large amount of belongings. Luckily for Belinda, some of her friends were glad (when I say glad I mean they had no say in it) to take some things off her hands for her!

So we began packing, cleaning, distributing to others and eating everything that was left in the cupboards and fridge. Everything we cooked up turned out quite damn good as well. Mainly because I was doing the cooking so Belinda could keep sorting and packing.

We kept going before Wednesday night I headed over to Ben’s to sleep so Bel could keep on cleaning, as she didn’t think she could clean under me. At Ben’s I had the luxury of watching MTV, in Japanese, with some English songs too, as well as shows like House, Prison Break, NCIS & Dexter, dubbed into Japanese. Thankfully it could be changed to English though and then I just had to put up with the subtitles.

Thursday was the day Belinda had to move out, so she picked me up then we raced back to the house in case someone arrived to turn off he gas/water/electricity or for whatever other reason. The day was spent with more cleaning and loading the car with everything to keep, before finally having the inspection. Afterwards we headed to the car and waited for Ben’s assistance in taking everything back to his apartment where we would spend the night, my final night in Nagano, before traveling to Kyushu the next day.

An even earlier start today, this time at 4.30am, after only getting to sleep at 2.30am! We again made our way out to Zenkoji Temple, but again unfortunately we didn’t get to see the monks and their morning again, but we did see them drinking tea… Yosh. Totally worth it, ha! We were there before sunrise so figured they mustn’t be doing it for some reason. Oh well, are sleeping patterns are in such disarray after Fuji Rock, it hasn’t really mattered.

Back to bed for sleep before getting up and venturing out to Matsumoto to meet up with Belinda’s friend Ross, and then to visit Matsumoto Castle. This is one of the last original castles in Japan and has been standing for over 400 years! It is surrounded by beautiful grounds and a river around half of it. The castle stands 5 stories and 1 hidden story tall and is full of items used hundreds of years ago. It was so cool walking through the castle and reading about the samurai that would run through the castle when it was under attack, and looking through the holes in the walls that were used to shoot guns and arrows out of at enemies. I got some amazing photos which will be posted up for the world to see soon enough, along with all the others.

Below is a photo of my first view of the castle:

You’d think after the long weekend at Fuji Rock we would be asleep through to the night, but if you thought that, you’d be wrong! After getting home at midnight from Fuji Rock, we were again up at quarter to 5, the next morning to go to Zenkoji Temple, tired as hell and a whole 4kgs lighter, to try and see the monks in their morning ceremony. Unfortunately we got there a bit late and they had finished before we got there, so we went home to sleep.

Later in the day we went back to Zenkoji Temple to as I say, ‘ get our enlightenment on’ which involved walked through a pitch black tunnel under the temple which was supposed to clear the mind. On the way back we got the local ‘thing’ which was soba crepes, and they turned out to be quite nice, and then we went to the ninja village in Togakushi.

The ninja village was so much fun, with a house with trick passages and doors we had to try and navigate our way through, then another little house which would start rocking around and moving once you got inside. Walking up the stairs to the next level was a bit difficult but no doubt fun, or funny, especially as Belinda nearly fell down trying to make a video of herself walking up the stairs and being ‘freaked out’ about it.

After the ninja village we went back home again to catch up on more sleep, especially as we planned on going back to the temple again tomorrow, earlier this time to make sure we see the monks in ‘action.’ By action I mean praying and being zen and such.

The last day of Fuji Rock had arrived, which was as much a good thing as a bad thing. Some things like walking up the mountain would not be missed, and after 3 days of broken sleep and and being on our feet for most of that time, we were glad it was the final day.

We started packing up the tent and took most of our gear to the car before catching the Dragondola, (a 5.5km cable car run through to mountains to another stage, which turned out to be hippy central. While there wasn’t much on up there, the ride up was nice, as well as the ride back down. Once we wee down we saw the end of Jason Mraz, and then onto Red Marquee where we sat for a bit waiting for One Night Only.

After having a bite to eat we went over to the Green Stage, grabbed a seat and saw Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers, and then began our wait to see Ben Folds. As we were waiting, we heard some of the loudest and longest thunder cracks, and biggest lightning strikes I had ever seen, which didn’t fill us with the best confidence considering how much electrical equipment we were surrounded by! We stayed out there, and then, the rain came. And it didn’t just rain, it poured! We were that wet we stayed out there and it was definitely worth it, Ben Folds was great, although he didn’t interact with the crowd as much as I expected.

We decided we may as we’ll stay out in the rain and wait as we weren’t getting any dryer, or wetter. We were waiting for Ellegarden, another Japanese punk band, but this time, they sang mostly in English. As with Mongol800, as soon as the band came on stage, the crowd stormed to the front, and it wasn’t your normal mosh pit crowd. There was kids and parents in there too, small petite girls getting in amongst it also, and people running around in circles and purposely jumping into each. It was really a site to be seen, and the music was really good as well, as the ain continued to fall.

As the sun started to set, we headed back to the campsite for the last time, to pull “The Hilton” down and back to the car before ending the Fuji Rock experience! We would have stayed longer if it wasn’t for the rain, but we weren’t overly fussed missing the last few acts, and were much more excited about heading to the onsen (translated as hot spring, best described as a public bath).

After our onsen we started the journey home, this time going a different way which turned out much quicker than the trip there. We got home about midnight and after unpacking our gear we were off to bed after our long, long weekend.  which was much better than I ever expected it to be!