Haunting notes, pizzicato strings

Serendipity.

I've just seen the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra perform at the Sydney Opera House! Ok - I was sitting on the steps outside, with 5,000 other cheapskates - but the setting couldn't be faulted and we had a special 'impromptu' performance from a few members of the orchestra and the conductor, Valery Gergiev, came out and said a few words. All this because I happened to be walking through the Botanic Gardens as they were setting up the port-a-loos for the event!

I deduced that they, along with the 100m-long queue along the quay at 5.30pm, were not the norm for an Opera House performance so asked the nearest queueing couple what was going on. John and Norma told me that the demand for tickets to see this gig had been so high that the Opera House decided to lay on a special night for those who couldn't get into the auditorium. As I had no other plans for the evening, I joined them. The concert was superb (Mozart's 36th Symphony and Tchaikovsky's 5th, if you're curious), John and Norma's travel advice priceless and the lift back to my accommodation an unexpected bonus.

A very good day indeed.

Travelling in a fried out combie...

...well, an air-conditioned bus.

I don't imagine I'll learn from this (I've done it before and swore then that I wouldn't put myself through it again) but in an effort to see the Blue Mountains (very picturesque area about 2 hours drive from Sydney) the easy way - and in a short space of time - I booked myself on a tour today.

I'm exhausted! Not for any good reason either - we did a bit of walking about in the mountains themselves, but nothing particularly strenuous. No, it was the fact that I had to be ready for pick-up at 7am* this morning in order to have the pleasure of being ferried around Sydney in the rush-hour traffic, picking up other hapless tourists from their hotels. At 9.30am, we picked up the last group just about next door to a train station I could have reached in 15 minutes from my accommodation. All I want to do now is sleep - and it's only flippin' 8.30pm.

Think I'll blame the jet-lag...



*yes - I am going to struggle when I have to go back to work in January.

Deja vu

G'day!

Today's stunning observation: Sydney really is a lot like Vancouver - but back-to-front.

Not a lot to tell yet. Arrived here safely on Monday morning after a sleep-free flight from Tokyo (having a row of seats to oneself does not necessarily make for a more restful journey). Since then I've done a fair bit of catching up on the ZZZs missed, along with a trip up the Sydney Tower (had to do my usual trick of getting my bearings via the medium of vertigo), a walk around the city centre and circular quay and a trip on the ferry to Manly (which is the cheap way to do a harbour cruise!). I like Manly - it's got a relaxed feeling to it and a great coffee shop in Beanrush (I stumbled upon it before I'd read that the Lonely Planet recommends it), which I'll be revisiting after I've done the Spit to Manly walk sometime in the next few days - when the weather's a bit less gloomy.

My accommodation is far more down-to-earth than Tokyo (no fancy seat-warming toilets here) but it's a friendly place and close to the train station for trips to the Blue Mountains etc.

My last day in Tokyo was fun - I toured the subway system again (even venturing onto a different line this time) and got some great photos of the Harajuku kids in Tokyo (they get together on the weekend and dress as kind of gothic barbie dolls) but have so far been unable to transfer them onto the internet - however, while having a little search around the internet for an example of what I saw, I came across this on flickr (have a nosey if you like very sweet stories).

Right - time to catch the ferry back to Sydney (more photo ops of the harbour bridge/opera house panorama).

Senses working overtime

Konichiwa!

As I travelled into Tokyo from Narita airport yesterday, I was overwhelmed with the fear that I wouldn't be able to navigate any further than the safe_zone of the couple of blocks around my hotel. It could just have been a symptom of the jet-lag - I've coped on my own in foreign cities before - but there's something additionally daunting about seeing signs written in a language that doesn't contain any characters vaguely resembling our alphabet.

Fortunately, the greater fear of not making the most of my short weekend here won over and I brazenly strode out of the hotel this morning - in entirely the wrong direction for the subway and amused the concierge by returning 10 minutes later to ask for the help he had offered when I walked out of the door the first time. Anyway - I needn't have been so worried, the subway has signs in English (apart from the ones telling you that the exit the guidebook had instructed you to use is closed. I now know the Asakusa station intimately - and recommend exit 3 as a useful alternative to exit 1 if trying to visit the Senso-Ji temple) - and, when on the train, each station is announced before you get there - also in English.

It's actually good fun trying to work out what the Japanese signs mean - at the aforementioned Senso-Ji temple - I whiled away half an hour watching the locals pay some money to shake a tin from which they then pulled a stick with a number on. This number related to a draw containing a slip of paper telling their fortune. A fortune cookie without the calories, if you like. I eventually had a go myself - I apparently had "Regular Fortune: One's fortune are not decided yet." I say 'had' because I then copied what I'd seen the majority of people doing and tied the paper around a bar nearby. I've now read that this has the effect of negating the fortune if you didn't like it (my kind of religion - speaking of which, it's nice to find 'The teachings of Buddha' sitting alongside the Gideons bible in the hotel room). I also joined in with wafting smoke from a cauldron onto myself (it apparently has health-giving properties) - the only change I've noticed so far is that I smell like I've been standing next to a bonfire all day; my jet-lag headache shows no sign of disappearing.

I'm currently sitting in an internet cafe in Shibuya (at the other end of the Ginza line - when I said it was easy to negotiate the transport, I haven't actually had to change subway lines yet!). This area is like Piccadilly circus on acid - overloaded with shops piled on top of one another (literally - this cafe is on the 7th floor), hoards of people, flashing neon signs and piped Japanese pop music. It's mad - but I love it! It's a really good job that my rucksack is packed full to bursting as there's so much kitsch nonsense I would happily bring back to add to the clutter I already have.

Time for me to go back to the hotel for a quick nap before I take on the Lost-in-Translation style bar on the 40th floor (I'm treating myself - my accommodation in Sydney is backpacker-style). Hope I can work out how to use my space-age toilet this time. It took me half an hour of pressing dozens of buttons in a different order only to discover a regular flush handle hidden behind the electronic gizmo. I managed to turn the seat-warmer on though, which heated up the entire bathroom a treat (a useful gadget if you're in Siberian climes; not so great when it's 26 degrees plus outside and the air conditioning only seems to work during the daytime).

Sayonara

It seems odd to be saying goodbye when there has been so little activity on this blog since my last big trip. However, it's more of an au-revoir than a final statement. I won't make any promises, nor excuses for my lack of updates during the summer but I hope to be on here a few times over the next couple of months...

I'm going away again.

On Thursday I fly to Tokyo for the weekend; then onto Sydney for a week or so before a 4 week Australian round-trip via Uluru and Cairns. At the end of October I'll be in Hong Kong staying with my pal, Helen, before heading off with another friend, Sue, to China for a couple of weeks. Before I return to the UK - Helen and I plan to spend a week in Vietnam - interspersed with more time in HK. Home just after my birthday and before Christmas!

Phew!

One month after I return form this jaunt, I'm due to return to work. A depressing thought and one which I'll try to put to one side for now. I've got two months of exciting new experiences to enjoy first - provided, that is, that the Japanese don't send me home when my stinking cold forces me to blow my nose in a public place. An incredibly disgusting and rude gesture - so the guidebooks lead me to believe. Better stock up on the lemsip!