Obirin University

Once again school has started, currently class is not challenging nor interesting so i have decided that giving myself homework is the best way to learn in my last semester here (which seems to be paying off well in class)
So far the year has been amazing, as i look out at mount Fuji i know i will miss this place when i go back.
The university campus is perfectly clean and nothing is out of place, everyday it is cleaned and the students themselves really look after the place (unlike Bath)
The friends i have met and the places i have been has changed me permanently and i wish to travel as much as i possibly can, perhaps even as a career in the future.

Golden week is coming up, a week off to travel again! New students have decided to go to Kyoto and Osaka and i guess it would be a good time to practice my Japanese. Before i leave i might take a holiday out to Okinawa as it would be the perfect time to sit on a beach and sleep before returning to the hell and manic rush of London.

great wall

All i have to say about this is over rated and a tourist trap, if you have to go MAKE SURE YOU DONT GO WITH A TOUR GUIDE (some poor Japanese got sucked into the money making scam big time)

If you can go with someone who speaks good enough Chinese then the chances are that you can find a non tourist spot, providing you bribe the police.

Once up at a high peak you can see the Chinese landscape for miles which is completely uninhabited. Unfortunately we couldnt walk as much as we wanted to due to the fact half of it had been blocked off and you had to talk back on yourself!

Hungover as usual, I needed a coffee and walked up once again holding a new friend of mine, starbucks caramel mochiato!

summer palace

Absolutely beautiful, originally we were supposed to be going to the great wall but it took me two hours in a hungover state to get ready.
Its all a bit confusing if you don't have a map but the highlights are the arch bridge and the fragrant Buddha.
I really laughed when i saw a huge fucking hill (more walking as usual)
Some dude who was walking behind us had a black bin liner - some American tourists come walking up and he tears the bag open and starts trying to sell them fake Gucci handbags....sometimes i do admit it gets a little annoying.

Its the last of my trip now, not much longer to go till i have to go back to university. Tomorrow is the great wall (part 2) so hopefully i'll have some new photos.

Accident

Oops, i spent a whole day looking for a keyboard as i spilt milkshake over the old one at the hostel.
They were really cool about it and i managed to grab one for under $4 so im not really complaining.

Me Sam and Glenn have now been to our second zoo and although all the animals look as if they are on death row the elephant was so close to us it was unbeleivable. It just stood by us for a good ten minutes, it was an old elephant but it was definately worth the see. It was just huge and really inquisitive about us.



Whilst in Ghuangzou we also went to a really nice Pagado temple and although i get mad at all the temples i look at i really felt at peace here. There were monks and we got to hear prayer chants, its good to get away from the bustle of the city and take time out to see what daily life is like in China. Even if it means waking up at 5am to see people practice tai chi in a park.

Forbidden City

What a complete joke, the once beautiful city has now been turned into a tourist trap with the two main attractions being starbucks and a building site. I kid you not - its completely been destroyed by hoards of tour groups and to add to all the chaos of forbidden city they have decided to 'restore' which by chinese terms means completly making new.

The highlight of our the day includes 2 caramel mochiatos, the PSB and the bank of china ATM which is situated all inside of the city.


On the plus side we have been to some really nice temples in ghangzou which didnt jave a single white person in them and travelling in Beijing is extremly simple, their system is much like London (considering they've just copied ours) with the lovely circle line and northern line.

The strange thing about china is that everyone spits on the floor which is really unhygienic and makes me cringe.


All the food is GREAT and everyday weve been trying new stuff so ill keep you posted with the crazy antics

the worlds loudest snorer

OK, now ive heard some good snoring - dad you are one mean snorer but yesterday was officially the worst sleep ive ever had in my life!
Some man in our hostel had a cold which applified his snore and still at 6am we were trying to throw things and/or nudge him to wake him up

We went back to our other hostel which is near forbidden city to get a good mornings rest but i cant seem to sleep.

The other snorer we had was on a first class sleeper when we were going to Beijing but my friend Sam just kicked him awake and he took the hint ahhhhh how i love the fact you can get away with doing stuff like that in China.

im stranded in a place called hunan....i now am stuck waiting till an train is available - hell on earth

Hong Kong

A visa to Vietnam would have been an extremely long wait, unwilling to spend possibly the next five days in a place we now called hell would be painful.

Actually its now not painfully hot, as predicted the hot and humid weather turned into torrential rain which was interesting when trying to retrieve laundry (my trainers were completely flooded.)

A laundry room wasn't even a laundry room, outside our hotel you'd go down some dusty alleys to find a few washer women loading stuff in (odd how there are no drains in the area)

She was a nice enough women who washed and dried our clothes for under 2 pounds，i somewhat doubt you'd receive such a good service in London。

So back to the topic，i will now go to Hong Kong in search of cheap electronics and possible some new hair straighteners （this shabby chic look has started to annoy me）

Moral of the story。。。。lets not mess with the chinese military （or even vietnam！）

The Nanning chaos

im in Nanning, its hot humid and not nice!

the vietnamease government are the worst and have decided that they will take forever in the process to give us our visas into the country......thats if they will let us into THEIR country.

If not ive been on a train for 36 hours with no shower for nothing and trust me its not nice (i have to go back that way!!!)

the ONLY good thing is for one night we had a plush hotel and thats because i really needed a shower, we smelled, we smelled baddd. the room was good and the place was decked out with bell boys and chandaliers - eating breakfast was a luxury and a half

IF i get into Vietnam i will be extremly happy .... if not who knows what ill do for the next three weeks, most probably Laos and then into cambodia or if not back up to Hong Kong

The denki Store

Japan is known for its strange attractions and beautiful scenery, but for most people it definitely has to be about the technology.
About 5 minutes down from where I live lies a large 3 storey store which consists of electronics - mainly games. Denki translated into English is just electronic or electricity.
I can imagine for any little boy it is a dream come true - to me its time to dig up old treasures and practice my Japanese.


There is NOTHING which cannot be found at this store, it has large amounts of ps3/ps2/ps1/SNES/Neo Geo/game boy/psp/dreamcast/xbox/......the list is pretty much endless. Rare stuff can be found at a very small price which is perfect for when you want to buy gifts for people back home =p


It is definitely one of the things that I missed when traveling back to the UK, the shopping aspect. Fashion has a large importance here and anything goes (for example the harajuku girls) also when it comes to electronics there really is much which cannot be bought, it makes me realise that I am really lucky to be living here.


When entering a store you are welcomed by all of the staff and if you have any questions or want to be shown were a product is, the staff will immediately help you and take you to the correct aisle. When first coming here that was definitely strange considering back home you aren't treated as that important.
Even when making purchases the sales assistant rushes around to bag things, everything is wrapped and organised efficiently so that little time is wasted.

le china trip....prep time!

As of tomorrow I will no longer be in Tokyo Japan, I will be traveling somewhere around Asia - currently our plan on where to go isn't solid.
All I know is I've been told to pack 'lit' no shoes, no shampoo or any hair care products, no creams, no razors and quite possible no makeup...these people are officially crazy! Me with no make up in the mornings is bad enough but to hear that my hair also will be just as bad makes me worry.

I have no idea how I am going to survive away or how long it will take for arguments to arise

Wish me luck!

k1 fight tokyo

hey hey people

long time no post, have been usy during school!
K1 fight was on yesterday which was seriously cool in Tokyo, the Dutch guy who won last year won again. I actually really enjoyed the whole experience and the crowd was really hyped up which encouraged everyone to get into it.

Had a party, some dumb American threw up which was funny.
Went to another temple, in fact been to a few wich arent over crowded with tourists. Other than that i just feel im really enjoying my whole stay here and using Japanese in everyday life is definately become a lot more easier.

Autum here is absolutely beautiful, i can't wait for the snow if im honest!
Sorry i haven't talked to the London people for a while...ive been seriously busy but hopefully some of you want to come up anyway =]
Looking forward to it hihihi
oh this is a random foto...kind of sums up Japan. its a foto of the ladies toilet and WHAT!? a kettle!? I thought it should have been a photo of a man or something?! Is it a tea room?? NO IDEA