day 141, osaka!

Had a shit nights sleep yesterday, and woke up with a headache then banged my head which pissed me off a treat. We had to line up and get our temperature taken (which we also did when we boarded the train) then exited the ship and entered Japan Customs. I got the usual process of having to provide a proof of onward travel, having a baggage search and a wee body search and subjected to a few ‘innocuous’  questions then they  let me in and got a bus to the subway. It was me, Jason and 2 French Canadians who were cool all heading toward the same hostel. After a bit of a faff with some overly helpful Japanese blokes we found the place, though as we hadn’t booked there were no space, so headed off for a another hostel, and after another bit of faff found the place and checked in. we headed straight off to get some tonkatsu Raman, this cool sort of broth thing with pork and noodles which was amazing, then we wandered round Osaka for a bit, before heading back to the hostel to chill and look at the lonely planet on japan. We headed off to  the other hostel where the French Canadians were staying to meet them for Okonomiyaki, a sort of egg omlette thing with pork and different things  which again was fantastic. From there we caught a few railways and subways to this famous street, including stopping off at this amazing railway station which was stunning, we arrived at this street full of shops, restaurants and the like, which was by a river and was fully lit up and had lots of interesting stuff, including the coolest climbing wall I have ever seen on the outside of the big building, had a walk up and down, had some very cool takoyaki, this really nice eggy thing with octopus in it, in the shape of balls, then made our way back to the hostel for a well looked forward to sleep (worst sentence ever)

Ps: Mum and dad, I’ve put some photos up on the eveil old  facebook if you want to check them, you don’t need an account, just copy and paste the below links into the search bar, x

St Petersburg: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150808463785710.735331.643680709&type=1&l=b49d4c365c 

Moscow: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150876977235710.749568.643680709&type=1&l=0c510c89e0 

Train:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150876987045710.749572.643680709&type=1&l=e0afd0ec60 

Lake Baikal: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150877001865710.749576.643680709&type=1&l=8bc16032ad 

day 140, the ferry

Slept amazingly on the thickest mattress I’ve been on in the last month, woke up to gorgeous sunshine and mooched around the boat, looking out on the views, watching some american football, showering, washing me clothes and the like. Read me book and alternated between the top deck and the couch, the ferry has taken the inland route so things are very interesting, sailing past islands and lots of wind turbines. Had dinner with Kieran, went on the internet (with no firewall!) had a beer and watched a serie a game and off to bed ready to dock in japan tomorrow morning!

day 139, ferry to osaka

I got me food from the supermarket last night alright, then went back to the hostel and ended up chatting to Lisa and Claire, both English, and Nathaniel an aussie. After a couple of hours we headed to this rooftop bar I had found on google, voted one of the top 10 rooftop bars in the world (by some bloke). After getting a little lost we found it, it was actually a hostel bar and had a beautiful view over the pudong district of shanghai, and though a big beer was a fiver it was amazing, then about an hour later 5 Chinese kids walked in and started singing songs acapella  which was bizarre, specially when the launched into a lion king number. Walked home bout 2, had a cracking nights sleep and up bright and early for the ferry ride. I walked to the ferry port, checked in alright, met an american dude called Jason who is sound, and boarded the ferry. The ferry is really nice, very modern, a reasonable size and comfortable cabins. Jason is my room which is good, there is a deck on top which we can sit on and look out, there is a reading room at the front of the ship with big windows looking out, and couches and things scattered around the place and it isn’t very busy. Out on deck I met a bloke from durham called Kieran who is great, is out here visiting his Chinese fiancée and thought he would pop over to Japan with his bike to visit a friend out there. I spent the day just relaxing, reading, chatting and looking out on the view. I went up on deck to watch the sunset which was very cool, then came in and felt seasick so had a pill and lied down for a couple of hours, had a chat with Kieran in the evening before heading for an early night at half 9.

day 138, shanghai

Last night I went out for a wander to see the bund plus these massive tall modern buildings which were all lit up which was fab, got an ice cream on the way back to me hostel and spotted a bloke looking a bit lost, he was staying at the same hostel so walked with him, his name’s ednan and very cool, a resident in children’s plastic surgery ifrom amaerica visiting china for a 2 week holiday. He’s off to Beijing tomorrow on the sky train so he wanted to go to a rooftop bar to have a drink, though as it was late the one we were aiming for we had no way of getting there, so went back to the hostel for a drink in their bar, sat with the winch and London couple plus this bloke from Chicago who is a harp tuner, and working for a company who is building them out here, very cool. Woke up this morning with no real plans, firstly I wanted to find out where my ferry leaves from, turns out it is a half hour walk which is cracking, so then walked back along the bund and thought I’d go in search of my china patch as it was my last day in china and I haven’t found one yet. I went to the place the hostel recommended but couldn’t find one for love nor money, then went to a shopping mall to a big supermarket (fun fun) to stock up on food and water for the ferry trip, then onto a park which was really nice, till got bothered by some teens who wanted to practice their English, (which a lot of people want to do, walk down the street 20m and someone will say hello trying to strike up a conversation, normally it’s trying to flog you shit (watches, t shirts, massage, sexy massage, cheeky cheeky massage, shit like that….)) but these were innocent kids from Xi’an who spoke pretty good English, though I couldn’t be fucked with them, I just wanted to eat my orange and be left alone. Walked back to me hostel, no one really around at the mo, got some food on my own and now back at the hostel, thinking of going to a rooftop bar tonight round the corner for a cheeky one, it will have to be a cheeky one as I’ve almost ran out of money.

day 137, train then shanghai

Woke at 7 by the kid behind me firing off his toy gun into my head which was fucking loud, spent the day reading, listening to music and people watching. Before knew it we arrived in shanghai 20hours after set off, caught the metro to me hostel which is very nice, in my room were a couple, one from London the other from Winchester which was good, now chilling trying to work out what to do tomorrow and maybe get a bit planned for Osaka

day 136, train to shanghai

Originally planned to catch the first bus back to Guilin and book a ticket to shanghai, though slept in and didn’t get to Guilin till about half 11. Queued up for about 40mins waiting for the train ticket, there were no sleepers, only seats, well there were the posh sleeper but that was too expensive. I got the seat ticket, and went to the hostel that Kelly was staying at with the hope of meeting up with her. Unfortunately (for me) she was on a day trip to the rice paddies, so I chilled at her hostel for a bit, which they were very kind to let me, then had a wander around town, saw a couple of lakes then got some food and attempted to wait for kelly but had to leave for the train. The train itself was exactly the same as the standing one from Beijing to Xi’an, though there were no-one standing which was cool so felt quite spacious. No-one spoke English though I got offered some rice wine so thought it would be nice to get me vodka out, had a couple of drinks and within 40 mins the bloke who was a bit annoying opposite me was asleep. I read more of Shantaram which I’m bloody loving, and got a decent bit of kip in considering with me wooly hat pulled over me eyes.

day 135, Yangshuo

Woke up early to meet james who would show me where to rent the scooter from, he went off to school and I rode it around, it bloody went which was fab, and the day was cracking and was amazing to see the Karsts (limestone peaks) in all clarity. I rode for a while to nine horse fresco spot which was awesome, an amazing view point over the river, then went down a shit road which was quite fun to check out the white water ‘drifting’ they do down there, first person I see is a bloke in a saints shirt, called Jim and living in Hong Kong teaching. Rode back up and back up to the viewpoint, where I had a bit of a Jay from the inbetweeners crash on my moped, where I attempted a ‘u’ turn facing down a hill and lost a bit of control and ended up straddling a sign/statue which had writing on with the bike reared up on the back wheel, and luckily enough a Spanish couple were there who helped me, thankfully no damage done to the bike. Rode back to town and met James, had a spot of lunch before and rode to Xingping which was cool, had a drink and returned, saw some amazing things on the ride. Gave me scooter back, said thanks and goodbye to James and went back to the hostel to phone me mum and attempt me dad, but he was out. Started speaking to a aussie girl called Ella-Louise, she was travelling by herself but had met people and were going out for dinner, so was going with them though had a show at 8 so missed it, got some dinner meself and went to the show. It was a show on the river involving 600 people done by the bloke who done the Olympic opening ceremony, and was very cool though very boring in parts and the crowd pissed me off, talked through the whole thing then everyone left 10 mins early, baffled me. After that went up to a bar where the people going out for dinner were, had a quick chat then went off as were knackered, then ran into a aussie/swede couple who were in the same hostel in xingping, caught up a bit then off to bed.