under another sun

Hungover this morning and my lovely wife brought me a cup of tea and generally looked after me. Went off for a drive in Eitaro's great boat of a car to Shizuoka where we went to a mall, had a noodle soup lunch, which was rather restorative. Lorraine, Toby and my meal rather delayed as we did not press the little bell on the table to get service till Romy told us to. Generally mooched about in the mall, and Hiroko went off to have a massage, and Lorraine made friends with an elderly man and three elderly ladies. The man gave her a sweet for New Year, and told her where she could get some oishii  delicious coffee for free. Then a drive outside town to a pine lined wooden path, which has recently been designated a world heritage site. We all walked down this path and arrived at a pine grove Miho-no Matsubra pine forest by the seaside, which is associated with a legend of a Hagoromo. A fisherman finds a robe hanging on the branches of pine tree It belonged to a celestial lady, who ne...

Dark night of the soul on board. Lorraine colouring in her colouring book and feeling too claustrophobic to sleep, me occasionally twitchy but mostly just bored. Looked out of the window at stars and the top of the clouds that we seemed to have skimmed over from London to the Sea of Japan. Both Lorraine and I dead beat and snuffling horribly with colds. Eventually the sun came up again and the end of the journey which I had been following on my plane tracker was nigh. I made Lorraine swap seats with me so she could see Mount Fuji rising majestically to greet us. At last we had landed, and apart from a tiresome Englishman in his late 60s who was boasting about his attractiveness to Japanese women, calling one of the English stewardesses Miss Bossy Boots, and raving on to anyone who would listen about Mt Fuji we landed and disembarked without incident. Lorraine and I marched through the foreign diseases part of the airport trying not to give ourselves away as being ill. Romy was wa...

Chilled over Siberia An epic journey. Up at 5:30am to shower and complete packing, followed by a hearty breakfast cooked by Hiroko. Then Toby, Romy and I were driven sleepily to Shizuoka shinkansen station by Hiroko. The moon was big and still full and Mount Fuji was clear and pink in the dawn. It was if Japan was making sure it would be remembered. I was sorry to say goodbye to Hiroko in Shizuoka. She has been wonderfully hospitable and I've got on with her extremely well. Despite the train being busy we managed to get seats next to each other, and bulleted into Tokyo, with Toby and me taking photos of Mt Fuji from the window. At Tokyo Romy guided us through the huge mazy station and put me on the airport train. Toby kindly hefting my case about as my back and leg were still somewhat rubbish. Fond farewells to Toby and Romy. Not sure which country we'll all meet up again in, but that all adds to the fun. Then an hour's ride to the airport. I had checked in online and my...

Of snow and eel intestines My cold somewhat abated, I got up just before dawn and opened the curtains, then climbed back into bed to watch the falling snow. Kyoto is bordered on three sides with mountains and gets very wintery. Met Toby Romy and Hiroko and we set off in the cold to a nearby Starbucks which overlooked the snowy river, and was a wonderful place to enjoy hot cofee. Toby busy saying it was the world`s best Starbucks and he is probably right. Thus fortified we went back to the hotel to pack. Popped out then to a particularly lovely shop to look again at its prints and brushes and expensive pottery. Then after settling-up at the hotel, we taxied to our final temple. Sanjusangen-do was unheated and freezing. Inside was a structure like a long wooden football terrace, with 1000 life size sculptures of the Buddhist deity called Kannon. They flank one enormous seated deity. Spaced between them are a 28 other deities representing thunder, wind and other forces of nature. The scul...