Bienvenido a Peru!

Just landed after a 10 hour flight from Narita, a four hour wait at LAX, an eight hour flight and two hours to get through customs in Lima (¨manyana¨ applies here too...).

Here´s a pic of Enrique (not my pic), who picked me up from the aeropuerto. Gorblissím.

It´s pretty cold (albeit at 2:30 am) and the hostel looks pretty grim (albeit at...).

How is it these places always look really nice on ´t interweb?

Oh, and I wish people would use the same bloody keyboard layout. I mean, really!

Apart from that, here I am in South America!

Right, plans for Cusco, Machu Picchu ,Arequipa and whatever else my now meagre budget will allow...

Sayonara Japan

Well, I'm off on a twenty-odd hour journey across the Pacific today. It'll probably be a few days before I resurface again.

Japan's been really cool. Lot's of really good food, strange things to see and odd customs.

I'll fill you all in around the campfire when I get back.

See you in Peru!

Harajuku

This area's famed as being the area for Japanese teen sub culture. There certainly were a lot of young kids dressed-up as their favourite Manga and other characters.

Really good for clothes as well. Prices about the same as London Tim.

I took loadsa pics here, as there were some really funky shops and quirky architecture.

I'll post-up a new gallery when I get the chance.

Cruising with the Big Fish

I finally managed to rouse myself at sparrowfart and got to Tsukiji for 5am.

It was worth it as you can see from the pics of the giant tuna above. They don't really do them justice at this resolution, as they're just fecking huuuge.

Like small boats.

They're being sold for something stupid like US$25,000 each. Most of that for the fatty meat and the tail.

The rest of the market was just full of the freshest, biggest, weirdest seafood you could ever wish to see.

Clams the size of, erm, manhole covers (again), lobsters, urchins...fish still swimming about quite happily in huge containers.

I also took a few pics of the sushi bars around the market. These places were really busy.

I waited patiently, took my seat at the Shrine of Sashimi and then ordered some fatty tuna nori.

Disgusting.

Like chewy, fish-flavoured lard.

But hey, bacon, egg, sausage, beans and bubble is probably disgusting to some people.

There's no accounting for taste, eh?

Ueno, Tokyo & Asakusa

More walking. And eating.

Here's some shots of the Imperial Palace Grounds and also another angle of Le Snot d'Or.

Oh, and a dog dancing on a cow. Well, you've got to have a picture of that haven't you?

Methinks a Shinkansen trip to Kyoto may be in order.

The Nippons

Generally, Tim, the Japanese are very friendly and helpful.

However, in Tokyo, things are (generally) not in English so you're kinda lost in a lot of restaurants and have to resort to pointing at pictures (or sample dishes), so get laughed at, which is quite embarrassing.

And the 'Salary Men' generally think they're superior to everyone, foreigners included, but especially women (who don't seem to mind).

It's quite easy to ignore though. They're the real wage slaves, where we're, well, erm, not that bothered.

Vend It Vidi Vici

Vending machines.

They're everywhere. Hot drinks, cold drinks, fags, used schoolgirls' knickers.

Quite handy really.

Here's a nice pic of a restaurant I passed during one of my long schleps.

I've been travelling all over the Metro today - it's massive - and still only seen parts of Tokyo.

I did manage to find one of the elusive 'sample sushi' makers and bought a few bits.

They're awesome.

Beats Power Ranger models anyday.

Banzaai!

Le Snot D'Or

Quite impressed with Tokyo so far.

It's very big and very clean.

There's some strange goings on though. People frown at you for blowing your nose, apparently. But down my street, which seems to have a lot of retired drunk people living there, it seems quite OK to take a leak into the gutter.

I've re-named the street 'Pisshead Passage' in their honour.

Here's a few of my first pics.

The last one I've named 'The Golden snot'.

I've started-off with my first bowl of very, very good ramen, and I'm going to ask about finding plastic sushi (you'll see when I get back, if you don't already know).

Also, if I can arse myself for getting-up at about 5am tomorrow, I'll get down to Tsukiji market to see what happens to the giant tuna. Oh, and to eat the freshest sushi possible. Might even try the ultra-squidgy and ovular varieties.

They use special samurai-type swords to carve 'em up, so I've been told.

Update: I'm back at the guesthouse and have just learned (from a rather chagrinned French guy) that 'The Golden Snot' is actually called 'Le Flamme D'Or' and was designed by Philippe Starck (he of stupidly impractical rocket-shaped orange-juicer fame), so there you have it.

Je suis apologetique, mon petit cheuxfleurs.

In a nice guesthouse at the moment. Getting used to sleeping on mats on the floor and, of course, the musical super-clean-botty-loo ®.

こんにちは!

Yep, I finally did it.

Always thought I would.

I`ve had a go on one of the most gadget-laden loos Ive ever seen.

Wash, blow dry, buff. The works.

I'm whistling Dixie.

In Tokyo.

New Specs

Lost the last pair in NZ

Still raining. I'm going to wait 'till later and get some good shots of HK in the rain.

Just need some Blade Runner music to go with them.

Hong Kong Pheuwey

Well, it's persisting-it down proper here. And smelly, as the sewers are filling up with rain water.

Still, had to get out of my cupboard as I was getting claustrophobic in there.

Can't really tell what time of day it is as it's always dark.

There is a window, but it's in one of those 6ft x 6ft vertical air spaces in the middle of a tower block and I'm not sure I'd want to see what's out there anyway.

There's still some things I want to do in the couple of days I've got left here before I head off to Tokyo, but my plans seem to be getting scuppered by the weather.

Yesterday, I took the skytrain (cable car) on Lantau Island but couldn't really see anything apart from mist and the cable.

Apart from that, I've switched to eating Japanese food early. There's no comparison really (Japanese food actually contains the 'meat' part of meat and not just the sinew/fat/gristle/knuckles that Chinese food does).

That's not a complaint, but I've eaten enough stringy bits for now.

Macau

I love literal translations of Chinese to Ingrish.

Food that promises to "Explode your large intestine" (fill you up) or the chemist's advert that allows you to buy any drugs imaginable as long as you have "not half eye close letter" (wink). They even go further by saying they specialise in all "addictive and pleasure feel better" drugs.

Well, I thought I'd take the ferry to HK island as opposed to the underground as I usually do (routines already, eh?). So I ported myself off to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Being the daredevil traveller that I am [no map], I ended up at the Chinese ferry terminal and got onto a boat to Macau instead.

Pics above.

I met a retired French guy called Luis who was spending his time researching for a book about some ancient Jesuit icon thing on Macau.

All sounded a bit yawny to me but he was inspired in a 'Da Vinci Code' kinda way, so hat's off to him.

Anyways, means that I left Hong Kong territory for the day and entered mainland China.

Even though Macau's a group of islands and Kowloon's on the mainland.

Go figure.

No crap jokes today. My entrails have vanished on this purpose.

Taking a Peak

Last night I took in the sights and sounds around Lan Kwai Fong, where all the main nightlife occurs.

Mostly expats being loud and obnoxious.

Met John, a chemist from Manchester who lives in Switzerland. We did our best impersonations of being loud and obnoxious.

When in Rome...

Today, I took the Peak Tram up the, er, big hill/mountain that overlooks HK.

Brilliant views but there was some mist out over the bays, so you can't really make out the islands in the distance.

Pig's trotters for lunch.

Tim, stuff your crate of beers mate. There's no bloody way I'm sticking anything like that in my mouth.

Oh, I forgot to mention, a couple of days ago on Koh Tao, I stood on a scorpion.

Poor fellow came out of it worse-off than I did and I'll be bringing him back with me for the memory. He's already 'flat-packed'.

There's no sting in that tale.

OK, I'll stop.

Deer Dong Dinner?

I'm living in a cupboard in Kowloon. It's a very clean cupboard, so no complaints really.

I took myself off to Hong Kong Island today, where I took in the sights along such aptly named streets as 'Dried Seafood Street', 'Sharkfin Street' and 'Bird's Nest Road'.

I hope that I don't have to explain much here, but these included such epicurean delights as sea slugs, fungi the size of, erm, manhole covers, tortoises, deer antlers (gizzards, willies...) and spatchcocked lizards of varying species.

I'm not very hungry today.

Hong Kong

Talk about surreal.

Erm, lot's of people with gagdets buying more gadgets from neon-encrusted gadget emporiums.

And food. You name it, they've got it.

I didn't ask about the little kitty in his nice kitty basket with milk and crunchies perched on the step of one restaurant though. Don't think I would have liked the answer/invitation for "you try, you try!"

Got pics but (this is where Monty cringes) can't for the life of me figure out either: 1. how to change the computer's windows language to Ingrish; or 2. How to get said computer to recognise my camera, whilst eveything is in Chinkynesian.

Monty, you've got to ask yourself if you can remember which menu item does what when they all look like pictures of pretty little cottages with streams and fences.

Gimme a few days, and I'm sure I'll be speaking like a native.

"yoo wan soh vinga wi cat frih ta?"

Hope you're all well.

Please give Sam a hug for me and tell Him I'm going to bring Him some nice goodies back.

Marinade, pickled veg on the side...

Tune In

Here's the first of the tracks I've been working on whilst on Koh Tao.

Right click to download it.

It's not completed yet, as I need to use the ASIO driver and the midi keyboard for the final mix-down which are, conveniently, gathering dust at home in sunny Brixton.

You'll get the general idea.

Phil, I've been mostly using Native Instrument's Massive, Absynth 4 and Camel Audio's CamelCrusher on this one.

It's at 130bpm and I've left a long outro on it so you can mix it.

The MP3 weighs-in around 6MB and is quite upbeat. There'll be some more ambient type tracks soon as well.

Comments on a postcard please.

S

Chicken with Cashew Nuts

Yummy.

I'm still on Koh Tao.

Glad really as rainy season lived up to its name and SE Asia would've looked the same all over anyway (one big puddle).

I'm off to Hong Kong on Tuesday.

I'VE GOT A SKYPEIN NUMBER NOW, SO YOU CAN CALL ME ON LOCAL (UK) RATES ON 020 8133 0714.

That's from any phone.

I've been making music here. It's good.

Couple of quick messages:

Alice, rrrrrrrrrrrr.

Baz, glad you got the opera CD.

Paul, it's only a game.

hehehe