Return to Japan.....

So - December 2005 was the month that I went back to Japan, after almost 4 years away. The reason was work related of course - the FIFA Club World Championship TOYOTA Cup 2005 - bit of a mouthful - but an interesting event and one that I was Event Manager (for accommodation) for, so was a good challenge for me. A lot of work as usual, but becasue it was Japan, I made sure I had time to play as well - so not much sleep this month!

I have spent 6 of the last 12 years in Japan, and there is a reason for that - I LOVE it! There is nowhere where I have felt more at home, and I include my own country in that! Sure there are things I miss from back home, but there is more I miss from Japan, when I am not there. The last month has really given me another taste for that lifestyle, though I am not sure my Liver could stand up to the battering I gave it for too much longer, as a plaque on teh wall in Germonimo's in Roppongi will attest to (15 different shots in one night - Heiland Zack!)

So - what did I do there - not a lot really - didnt venture out of Yesbisu or Roppongi, but didnt really need to either. highlights included going to Gompatchi - the inspration behind the restaurant for the crazy 88's scene in Kill Bill and of course all the wondeful food (Yakiniku - mmmm) but really it is all quite a blur, as there were far too many B52's around. If you dont know what a B52 is - dont try and find out (and no, i am not talking about the planes!

Anyway, all being well, this event will be repeated in Japan again in 2006, and I shall be venturing into other areas such as Shibuya, Shinjuku, etc etc next time....

Inter Hyogo - Jan 08 2006

Castalla, Spain

Woohoo - finally got a vacation! Went down to visit Phil in Spain. He is living in Castalla, a small town about a 30 minute drive north of Alicante.....seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but actualy not too far from civilisation. Wine and good conversation is probably what i will remember most from the trip, that and being incredibly jealous of Phil living in this cool little place (had to keep reminding myself that i also enjoy my own life ;-)
The streets of Castalla (at least the old town where Phil and his family live) all look like the picture on the left, small and narrow, and countless cars try and navigate their way through, having to suddenly reverse back.

Dont really feel like i did an awful lot during the five nights i spent at Castlenel, , and that might have something to do with the wine. Within the first 5 minutes of being in Town, I had been taken to the local alcohol shop, and purchased 5 litres of wine for just over 5 euros......and it was good wine too - none of that oddbins 2 quid stuff!) Needless to say, lots of wine was consumed over the past few days, and i am not sure how long it will take to recover.

I did manage to make it up to the castle that dominates the skyline of Castalla. Really is a lovely town, and as this was my first real trip to Spain (other than a week in menorcca when I was 10 years old) it was nice to be able to go somewhere where there were not many (if any) other tourists, and to see a little bit of the old (and real) Spain.

Other highlights of the trip included Alicante, Murcia, and Elx (Elche), as well as fire poi in the main square of Castalla.

Really enjoyed the trip, and if anyone is intrested have linked to Phil's (Goatboy) Blog on the right hand menu.

Machu Picchu

OK - so after an unventful 3 weeks in Lima o far, where i have seen nothing but the football stadium, two hotels, and one restaurant, something finally happenned to get me interested again.

Just when i thought i was going to die of despair at not being able to get any time off or any free time to explore, my office actually told me to take a day off and join a trip that a few people were making, all at the companies expense. Turns out the trip was to Machu Picchu, and here are a few pics.Machu Picchu is an inkan temple about a 3 hour journey from the Peruvian City of Cuzco. Its located at the top of a mountain at about 10000 feet (not sure of exact height, but thats close enough) It was an interesting journey....

After a party the night before, and getting to bed around 01:30, I had to be up at 3:30. In a taxi at 04:00 to join the rest of the group (34 of us) and a bus to the airport for a flight to Cuzco at 06:00. Arrived Cuzco abotu 90 minutes later where we got on a minibus to some place the name of which i cant remember how to spell or promounce. At 10:30 we then got on a train that took about 90 mins to get to the town of Machu Picchu, at the bottom of the mountain. We then had lunch before we got on another bus, this time to go up to the old inkan "Citadel."

Was so glad to finally be there - was totally exhausted, but by god it was worth it as I hope the few pics in this blog entry show. It was especially bad, as, being so high, climbing around was tough, and at one stage i thought i was going to pass out from altitude sickness. But all was good. Sadly though, we only had time to spend 90 minutes at the top of the mountain, and so we didnt get to see everything, and I will certainly go back at some stage, hopefully to spend a few days there......but thats not the end of this story........

We then headed back down the mountian in the bus to catch a train at 16:20, then a bus again at 18:00 back into Cuzco where we arrived at about 20:00. So by this stage most of the group were on about 36 hours with only a couple of hours sleep (if an - one or two had no sleep the previous night) but as we drove into Cuzco, we realised that this city is much much better than Lima....so we decide to go out and get some dinner. I think we managed to find THE worst restaurant in the whole of Cuzco. The peruvian food was good, but the spaghetti and meat dishes were all left narely touched.....on the menu however, I had spotted something i had never seen on a Menu before...Roast Guinea Pig. Now, i am of the opinion that when it comes to food, you should try everything once...at lunh, I ate Alpaca for the first time (not bad, but not my taste), and I was tempted by teh guinea pig, but was really hungry and wanted to opt for a safe Pizza...but managed to persuade another of our group to go for it with the Guinea pig. I am not sure what we were expecting, maybe pieces of meat, skewer or something, but we certainly were not expecting this.......