Kickboxing sensei

It's been a long time since the last real post and I'm not going to write a lot this time either. I have been mentioned elsewhere on the Internet however.

I'm now teaching kickboxing at my dojo for an hour each week on Mondays. It's pretty difficult as I'm doing it in broken Japanese and struggling to describe students' mistakes. It's in the afternoon and most people are at work so I've only had one student for each of the classes. What adds to the fun though is that I've just found that the owner of my dojo has put me on the website, saying I'm a kind teacher who can speak fluent English and Japanese and tell jokes in both!

This is a link to the website but most of you probably won't understand it, i've copied what he wrote too. http://tkdj.gozaru.jp/bbs.html

トイカツ道場インストラクター紹介① - トイカツ

2009/07/27 (Mon) 21:03:58

時間：中野、月曜17：00～18：00
クラス：Englishキックボクシング
講師名：デイビット

内容：イギリス人のデイビットが
流暢な日本語とEnglishジョークを混ぜながら
優しくキックボクシングを指導してくれます。
もちろん英語で話しかけてもＯＫ！

英会話も習えてキックもしたいあなたは
今すぐトイカツ道場へ！

Toilet training Japanese style

I thought it was funny anyway...

Osaka and Universal Studios

No Japanese on this post, not really had time. I got a new job in addition to my 4 days at Shane i'll be an English Tutor at Waseda University starting next week. Its a bit of a different style of teaching and should be good experience as well as looking good on my CV but I'm a bit worried about my time management, or should I say my lack of time management. In addition to the job i've started a teaching Diploma that's taking up quite a bit of my time and which I should really be doing more work on. Consequently I've dropped down to one Japanese lesson a week and given up any thoughts of learning another language for now.

On a normal week I'll be trying to fit in about 30 hours at Shane, 11 hours or so at Waseda with a few hours for administration, 10 hours of study for the teaching course, an average of 1-2 hours of private lessons, training at the dojo and traveling between all these places. Waseda is only for 10 weeks though so if I keep that in mind maybe I can get through it without neglecting any areas too much.

Despite being busy I'm pretty happy at the moment, I managed to squeeze in a holiday to Osaka and Universal Studios for a few days. You should be able to see the photos by clicking on the title of this post. Also my teacher at the dojo has mentioned doing a MMA fight to me again so I'm contemplating trying one in the summer so long as I can drop a few Kg to get in a lower weight division. Whether I do it or not it's nice to think that all the training I've done has improved my fighting and that my teacher believes I'm good enough to compete.

Bert and Ernie dancing to MC Hammer


Bert and Ernie Rapping in Japanese to MC Hammer


Strange man, not sure what the point of this is...

Japanese blog or rather 日本語のブログ

Ok, bit of news first. I've had a sickly and injury filled February. It started with a cold, that cleared up and I got a beautiful black eye at my dojo, then I got some sort of strange stomach bug. I've just got over the last of these which basically pretty much took up my 9 day holiday from school and prevented me from doing anything exciting. I did lose 2.5kg though! that more than counters all the chocolate I ate this month. I got 8 Valentines presents (men get presents in Japan and return the favour in March on 'White Day') and a parcel of British chocolate from my home (Yay! thanks Mum!).

Anyway, looking forwards, I've decided to try and incorporate a bit of Japanese into my blog. Every day I teach people English and give them advice on how they can improve and vary the way they learn but I don't do many of these things myself, so now it's time for me to try! So here we go...

Recently I haven’t been writing in my blog much and I also haven’t been studying Japanese much, so I think I’m going to try and write my blog in Japanese. Killing two birds with one stone!
Most of my friends can’t read Japanese so of course I’ll continue to write in English too.
I think that just working is boring. I always work towards small targets in exercise or culture. I like to have targets in fitness or studying. Last year I started jujitsu at my dojo, studied for JLPT level 3 test, visited China, Vietnam, Thailand, Hiroshima and Kyoto. I also climbed Mount Fuji.

This year I’ve also got targets.
1. Do a kickboxing or MMA fight.
2. Start to learn another foreign language.
3. Review my Japanese and become more fluent.
4. Do another English teaching course.
5. Continue Jujitsu and get better.

But doing the English course will take a lot of time so doing all these 5 things might be difficult!

So that little paragraph is the English version and below is the Japanese. For those people outside of Japan without any Japanese this may not be that interesting, but if you want to see what i'm writing you might have to have to install some sort of Japanese language function to your Internet Explorer. Basically if you open your IE browser, select "Tools" and head for the "Windows Update". Just check all Japanese language tools and start the download. Then when it's installed select "View" > "Encoding" and select Japanese. Another point is Kanji. It's difficult, very difficult in fact. So in an effort to try and learn it a bit more I'm posting the blog in kanji and all hiragana which should force myself to learn a few more, acts as a reference for me to check the kanji and will hopefully mean other learners can cross-reference too. It took me a hell of a long time to get this paragraph into what I hope is a comprehensible passage, but hopefully it will get easier, longer and more ambitious as I continue....either that or i'll give up. :-)

さいきん僕はブログを書いてなかったし日本語の勉強をすこししているので　日本語でブログを書こうと思います。一石二鳥です。
ほとんどの友達は日本語が読めません。だから英語もかきつづけています。
ぼくは、ただ 働くだけはつまらないと思う。いつも小さな目標にしています。仕事だけでは実りない。目標はきょうようか運動で。

運動か勉強によって、自分自身を上達させたいので,去年道場で柔術を始めました。そして日本語能力試験３級の勉強をしました。中国,ベトナム,タイ,広島、京都に旅行したし,富士山にも登った。

今年の目標があります。
1. キックボクシングか格闘技の試合をしてみたい。
2. もう一つ新しい外国語を勉強したい。
3. 日本語を復習したいしもっと流暢に話したい。
4. 英語教授法の講習を受ける予定です。
5. 柔術をつづけて、もっと上手になりたい。

でも、英語教授法の講習は沢山の時間がかかるから,この五つの目標全部をするのは難しいです!。

Kanji free version now, just Hiragana below...

さいきんぼくはブログをかいてなかったし、にほんごのべんきょうをすこししているのでにほんごでブログをかこうとおもいます。いっせきにちょうです。
ほとんどのともだちはにほんごがよめません。だからえいごもかきつづけています。
ぼくは、ただはたらくだけはつまらないとおもう。いつもちさいなもくひょうにしています。しごとだけではみのりない。もくひょうはきょうようかうんどうで。

うんどうかべんきょうによって、じぶんじしんをじょうたつさせたいので、きょねんどうじょうでじゅうじゅつをはじめました。そしてにほんごのうりょくしけん３きゅうのべんきょうをしました。ちゅうごく、ベトナム、タイ、ひろしま、きょうとにりょこうしたし、ふじさんにものぼった。

ことしのもくひょうがあります

1. キックボクシングかかくとうぎのしあいをしてみたい。
2. もうひとつあたらしいがいこくごをべんきょうしたい。
3. にほんごをふくしゅうしたいしもっとりゅうちょうにはなしたい。
4. えいごきょうじゅほうのこうしゅうをうけるよていです。
5. じゅうじゅつをつづけて、もっとじょうずになりたい。

でも、えいごきょうじゅほうのこうしゅうはたくさんのじかんがかかるから、このいつつのもくひょうぜんぶをするのはむずかしいです!。

You wouldn't believe how long it took me to edit this post. I had a few photos at the end too but chopped them off in an attempt to get it to publish properly, I'll post them seperately soon.

Thailand 2 - The Return

I visited Thailand last year around New Year and, to be honest, wasn't that impressed. I thought i'd give it another go though. My mate will has been living there for 4-5 years now and I trust his judgement! Also, the last time I just went to Bangkok so I ventured a little further on this trip.

Visiting a country where your friend lives is a bit of a double edged sword. On the plus side you get a free guide who knows where to go and what to see, you get to know how much you should be paying for things and you don't have to struggle with the language much. On the negative side, not bothering with the language makes me feel a bit ignorant and lazy and I don't take many photos - it feels a bit wierd, like visiting a friend in a different city in England and taking lots of photos.

I stayed in Bangkok for a while, went down to Pattaya (famed sleaze centre, I wouldn't recommend it), a small beach resort called Bang Saen and Ko Samet - a small island not to be confused with Ko Samui further south and much more touristy. I was there for about 17 days in all. Of that I spent most of the time relaxing on beaches (though you wouldn't know it from my pasty white skin) but I also did 5 days training at Jittis Muay Thai gym in Bangkok. I'd read a few reviews of different gyms on the internet and it seemed to be consistently highly rated. It has a real family feel, Jitti and his family live there as do a few of the trainers. If you train there you also have the option of staying in the house. I paid about £10 and each day i'd get 2 meals, a bed for the night and 2 training sessions. To be honest I only ever did one a day - i'm not into that much punishment! - but one was enough. Local Thais train there as do visiting foreigners, ranging from those who have never tried the sport before through to true professionals.

At the time I was there a few fighters from the Leeds based 'Bad Company' Gym were training. Including one of the top UK fighters Liam Harrison who was preparing for a February fight against one of the top Thais, Sanchai. These are people who live and breathe the sport so i felt a bit out of my depth around them, but equally there were people with a similar level to me and more who just popped in for one day for the experience. One strange thing is that the first few questions you get asked by anyone at the gym are 'what do you wiegh' and 'how many fights have you had'. Basically to Thais the idea that you train but don't have professional fights is very strange, it's seen more as a job than a hobby. It was encouraging to be told by the owner that I should try a fight in Japan though, I can't be too bad!

All in all a very nice relaxing trip. It was good to get away from Bangkok this time and try a more relaxing pace of life away from the hundreds of people pestering you to buy things or take tuk-tuk rides. Great to do some Muay Thai in the originating country too, hopefully I'll be able to do that again someday. As per usual, click the title to get more photos.

Mumsie Comes to Japan

My mum came to Japan for a couple of weeks so I was a bit of a tour guide around Tokyo, then we went onto Kyoto and Hiroshima. This was back in ... hmmm ... November so i'm pretty slow in putting these up. I started writing this post back then, hence the November 30th tag on the post.

Kyoto - basically temples. Very nice old temples and pretty trees with autumn colours. But basically just temples. Good for a few days but I don't think I could stay much longer than that.

Hirosahima - Wide streets, nice big parks and promenades, numerous nice shops and bars. Basically because its a new city, which nobody lets you forget as every thing is called 'peace' something. Peace Parks, Peace Streets, Peace Buildings, Peace Monuments, Peace Biscuits, Peace Underpants....O.K I made the last two up but you get the idea. Not that I'm trying to belittle the seriousness of nuclear weapons or the fact that countless innocent people were killed. But basically we know that and everyone will go to the museum anyway so theres no need to ram it down tourists throats in every part of the city.
The museum was interesting but could have been half the size and as effective. Auschwitz was better.....hmmm...maybe that came out wrong.

As usual there are more photos if you click the title. More holidays and photos coming soon.

Does anybody read this aside from me?

Gundam Salutes your patience

Hisashiburi ni blog oh kaite desu ne?
Or, It's been a long time since i wrote my blog hasn't it?

4 Month break and nothing groundbreaking to tell you about in that period. I'm sure i've done interesting things, but nothing big. No holidays, no major news, so just a quick summary (some of which should explain why i've not been galavanting around doing exciting things), some photos and a preview of my busy months ahead. All conveyed through the medium of bullet points, because they're all the rage this November.

• I moved house from my overpriced pokey private apartment to a cheaper pokey room in a guesthouse, sort of like a hostel. My room is basically the same size but I share the kitchen and shower with other people in the house and pay about £200-300 less a month.

• I've been sick a couple of times, bit of a cold here and there, but most recently I got a strange bulge on the left side of my stomach...ignored it...fainted....stopped ignoring it. Went to hospital two times, and a British doctor both of whom said 'don't know what it is', 'don't worry about it'. The bulge went of its own accord and i haven't fainted again. I'm putting it down to stress and being tired, was pretty busy at the time it happened. But it wasn't the nicest of experiences, foreign hospitals, doctors who don't speak much English, and the large amount of money it cost me wasn't too nice either. Hopefully i'll get some back from my insurance when i pull my finger out and send off the forms.

• After that little break I got back into training at my dojo - kickboxing, wrestling and ju-jitsu. Been going 4 times a week recently, so i'm super fit again. I might actually do a fight soon, but not sure of the details so if it happens and i win i'll post details of my glorious victory, if it doesn't happen or I lose I might not ever mention it again! :-)

• My mum is coming to visit for about 2 weeks soon. I have a Japanese test at the start of December and I'm going to Thailand on a 16 day holiday over Xmas and New Year. I'm thinking of spending about a week of that time in a kickboxing camp, will try and see a bit more of the country than the 4 days i spent solely in Bangkok last year and also meet my mate Will who's living over there.

• I got a massive local tax bill (equivalent of council tax) which i've now almost paid off but cost me about £1000!
  

Much more has been happening in my friends' and families lives and i've been a bit slack in contacting them recently. My cousin got married to his girlfriend Jo, Chris and Lynn had a baby girl, as did Rick and Jo, and Jacko got married to Thao and moved to America. I've had very limited contact with you guys recently, i'm in the midst of correcting that though so if you've not got anything from me in the post yet you should do soonish!

Right...all done, just a few random photos now...





















I get my good manners from beer - Gent Half normally, Super Gent if i'm meeting a lady.




















Mari Mokori - My favouite Japanese character, a green man with a bulge in his pants!




















Good advice on the side of this vending machine.

Vending Machines at 3,776 m (12,388 ft)

My mystery cold/stomach based illness which I picked up in Vietnam finally disappeared last week. After around 2 weeks of inactivity I decided to get the blood pumping again. So starting on Sunday I got back into the fitness regime. Kickboxing for three consecutive days was the baptism of fire, then I followed it by climbing Mount Fuji!

We left Tokyo at 8pm, got to the highest point accessible by car (on this particular route anyway, there are about 5 ways up the mountain) at 10pm, then started climbing at 10:30pm.
Woah, woah, woah Dave I hear you cry in disbelief. 10:30pm?!?. Well yes, that is not a typo, there are only two reasons to climb Mount Fuji...

1. Because its there.
2. For the view, or specifically the view of the sunrise you can get from the top.

Basically the climb itself is not that thrilling, Fuji is a volcano so the landscape is rocky and moon-like at some points, so no animals or nice foliage to look at. The main sight in the area is the mountain itself, which you can't see when you're climbing it. So getting to the top by about 4:30am is the target for most climbers, as is the hope that the weather stays fine and there isn't low cloud. If these all come together you're rewarded with a view over the clouds and a beautiful sunrise.

Apparently it normally takes 6-8 hours to get to the top, plus a lot of people will stop for a nap or a rest in one of the many mountain huts on the way up adding to this estimated time. You can see the sunrise from any point on the hiking course and I think most people see it close to, but not actually at the top of, the mountain due to underestimating how long it will take to climb.
Due to the late start there wasn't really the luxury of stopping, so battling against the occasional dizziness of altitude sickness I sped up the mountain in a mere five and a half hours, giving me 30 minutes to find a nice spot to watch the sunrise and buy an overpriced can of coffee from the vending machine on top.

After seeing the sunrise there's little else to do except buy overpriced food, have a quick nap, look at the crater, send a postcard from the post office at the top of the mountain....then....climb down again! It's a bit faster but even so, after climbing all through the night the last thing you want to do is spend another 3 hours scrambling back down the mountain.

As per usual, there are more photos if you click the title of this post.

Back from Nam

I'm back from Nam and i've got the thousand yard stare, still having flashbacks too... they're everywhere.... coming out of the trees.... agghhhhhh!

Not really. You see because there isn't a war in Vietnam anymore, I'm just trivialising a major conflict of the 20th Century that took millions of lives.Anyway, it's nicer than the 70's now, and I had a great time there.

I flew into Hanoi and stayed there for two nights, took a day trip to Halong bay, travelled by bus down to Hue, a day trip to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), then down to Hoi An before flying back to Tokyo via Hanoi airport again. Went on a motorbike a few times on the day trips (sorry mum!) which was fun, I hired a driver too as I didn't fancy negotiating Vietnamese traffic.

People are much more outgoing than in Japan so kids in the street would stare a little bit then ask where you were from or what your name was. Normally the conversation stopped at that though, maybe they need more English teachers! In shops the saleswomen had similar questions before pointing out some wares and instructing me 'you buy, you buy'. In fact, half the people I met were really nice and genuinely interested in someone from another country and the other half saw a walking ATM and tried to get as much money out of me as possible.

Officially the currency is the Dong (hehe, that sounds funny), but they also take American dollars. If I changed about £30 I instantly became a millionaire as £1 = about 35000 Dong. But it got a little confusing changing all the prices in my mind between pounds, yen, dollars and dong. Not that it mattered that much, everything was ridiculously cheap and I sometimes felt bad haggling over the equivalent of 50p, but it was more the principle that I was being charged more as a foreigner. In fact I'd only spent about half my money by the end of the week so I got 5 shirts and a suit tailor made in Hoi An (they have about 500 different tailor shops so lots to choose from!).

Obviously I also got a bit sick from street food, fruit, and forgetting that I shouldn't have ice in drinks. Nothing too bad and it didn't stop me from enjoying myself. Got it checked when I came home to make sure it wasn't Malaria, the Hepatitis alphabet, Dengue fever or some parasite living in my stomach (didn't get any vaccinations before I went). The Japanese doctor I saw chatted to me for 5 minutes, took my temperature, told me it was a cold then charged me about £17....hmmm....easy money....nice job.

See more photos by clicking on the title of this post.

Vietnam

No posts for a month, then 3 in one day! The day trip to Enoshima and the 4 day trip to Yamanakako and Kawaguchiko were during Golden week in May, my last holiday. I only seem to add photos from my holiday when I'm planning the next one, and this is no exception! On the 22nd of June i'm flying to Vietnam for a week. Got a visa (so no more China-like incidents for me) and the flights but that's about it. I fly into Hanoi but depending on how much there is to see in the area i'll travel around a bit by train and maybe even go down to Ho Chi Minh City by train if I have time. Dave's Communist tour continues!

Fuji

Finally saw Mount Fuji after about 18 months of living in Japan. A lot of people have mentioned seeing Fuji from the train on the way to work on clear days, but I must be pretty ignorant 'caus I've never seen it from Tokyo! We went to Yamanakako and Kawaguchiko, stayed in a guesthouse on the first night and a hotel on the second. Lots of photos when you click the title, not all in the right order because photobucket is playing silly buggers.

Enoshima

A day trip to Enoshima about a month ago, one of the closest beaches to Tokyo. Few photos linked when you click on the title.

Various Photos

A nice shop















Was there ever any doubt?















Don't drink beer, slouch, and look at pictures of girls in the train please, but doing it at home is actively encouraged.



















Just 'avin a lark



















vacuuming in the street...that's fairly normal isn't it?















Playing outside in the rain with electric guitars, safe as houses.

Earthquakes

There's not a lot you can do about earthquakes, so in my mind its not really worth worrying about them to much. They're quite common (Japan experiences about 20% of the worlds earthquakes annually) and to be honest most of the time they're over before you can start thinking about what's going on. Many a time I've woken up in the middle of the night or the early morning with my bed rocking (no dirty jokes here please, we're still talking about earthquakes) but after 2-3 seconds they tend to stop and I head back to sleep only to check with other teachers or students the next day if it really happened or if it was just part of a dream.
But this week we're had quite a lot, it all started on Thursday (May 8th). The biggest was a 6.7 at about 1:45 am, but what was strange this time was that it lasted a lot longer than all the others I've felt. About 6-7 seconds at a guess. There was a 6.2 before the main quake and it was also followed by a number of aftershocks nearly as big as the original. Then there were 3 more yesterday, 5.7 4.5 and 3.5 on the Richter Scale.
The only reported injury I've seen is a teenager was hurt when his stereo speakers fell on him! but if you shift the epicenter towards Tokyo a bit and up the level by .1 or .2 there'll be trouble. Here's a few news story extracts to give you an idea...

'A 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked central Japan in July last year, killing 11 people and shutting down the world's largest nuclear power plant owned by TEPCO...A 7.3-magnitude earthquake in Tokyo could kill 4,700 people, damage 440,000 buildings and leave thousands of others trapped in elevators, according to a study published by the government in 2006.'

So there's something to think about eh!
I'll do another update soon with a less serious topic. In brief, since my last post I've turned 27, been to Enoshima, seen mount Fuji up close, and wandered around two lakes.

Chinese Prisoner!

I booked a cheap flight to Shanghai about a month ago, then pretty much forgot about it. A friend of my girlfriend's offered to put me up so I didn't have to arrange accommodation, he also said he'd pick me up from the airport, and I had my flight...nothing else to think about, nice and easy. I checked the time of my flight the day before and didn't even buy a guide book until the day I was flying!

As I settled down into the three hour flight I leafed through the guidebook and noted places I could go and see. The building where the Communist Party was founded, the 'French Quarter' an area of Art Deco buildings where colonial invaders based themselves, a sex museum! (in China!? that's a bit surprising), Jinmao Tower - China's tallest building, etc. etc. All looked pretty good, I skipped onto the 'essential info' of the guidebook - currency, travel, visas, language.....wait a minute......visas, I don't need a visa, surely, I'm a British citizen, they let us in anywhere for 30 days don't they? Lets see....a luyou or travel visa is needed for stays up to 30 days in China...ah, bugger!. I was a little worried at this point but maybe not as worried as I would have been without a friend working in immigration at Heathrow (alright Russ!). Whilst he couldn't help me in China I knew from talking to him that the procedure for people who arrive without a visa is to simply send them back to the country they came from, so whilst I would forfeit a holiday at least I wouldn't be locked in a Commie prison sewing Nike tracksuits. So I settled down to enjoy what I thought would be a three hour holiday on a plane.

After I arrived and confessed to the immigration people I was offered the lifeline of going to Hong Kong (where British passport holders can stay for 180 days with no visa!) to apply for a fast-track Chinese visa and then flying back to Shanghai. I couldn't do it that night as it was 10pm by this point, so I stayed overnight in a hotel mainly used by employees. I wasn't actually 'in' China as it was before the immigration section, so I spent the night in what I guess is international airspace or maybe no-mans land, in a twin room with an immigration guard in the other bed keeping hold of my passport and making sure I didn't try and run away. The next day I got up at 6:45am and was on a plane to Hong Kong by 7:20am as having an immigration guard with you gets you past all the queues. It does draw a little attention from other passengers though, who perhaps thought I was some sort of international criminal.

Anyway, I went to Hong Kong and got the visa in about 5 hours then flew back to Shanghai that night. Obviously this little mishap meant my holiday cost a LOT more than I originally planned as I had to buy last minute flights to Hong Kong and back, a visa, and pay for the night in a hotel. It did give me about 7 hours to look around Hong Kong which was quite nice and also gave me a good travel story!

Anyway, I went to all those places I mentioned from the guidebook as well as looking around Hong Kong, I've put a lot of photos online, click the blog title to see them.


I went through the 'Bund Sightseeing Tunnel' which has nothing to do with Shanghai at all, very weird, and very funny. You might be able to hear the descriptions of the light shows such as 'hot magma' and 'space swirl'.



Chinese people singing in a park on Saturday, and a woman in traditional clothes dancing a bit. They weren't asking for money, just having a bit of fun!

Now I don't confuse cauliflower and broccoli

Just checking in

Not a lot of news. I'm back at the gym after a 2 month or so break around Christmas and New Year (both kickboxing and the regular gym, also did a 20km or so bike ride today! whoohoo). Passed the Japanese test I took in December, which is nice, not sure I'll ever need it but was a nice incentive to study a bit harder. Maybe try the next level up this year. Am off to Shanghai in about a week so will have more news then. In the meantime here are a couple of food based photos.

Deep fried Brussels Sprouts covered in mince with a citrus based sauce.

Nothing like a good snaffling.

Osaka

Most of my little jaunts away from Tokyo have been to scenic places, little towns or the like so I thought I'd try another big city.

Osaka is the 2nd biggest city in Japan and has a bit of an 'us and them' relationship with Tokyo. Perhaps a bit like Manchester and London in the UK. Tokyoites say that Osakans are loud, rude, dirty or crazy. I didn't see much evidence to these claims. There was however a very vocal argument between two men in the middle of the street which is the only time I've seen such an outburst of emotion in Japan.

It was just a 2 day stay but we managed to pack in the majority of the 'sights' in that time. To be honest I wasn't that struck on the city, but it was nice to get away. The pictures are linked from the title of the post so just tap on 'Osaka' to see the 2nd (?) biggest aquarium in the world, parks, a tower that looks a bit like Tokyo tower (both are a bit ugly and could be radio masts) a castle (reconstructed from concrete after the war) and some other bits and bobs.

I'm still a bit out of sync since coming back to Tokyo. Work is back to normal but my gym visits aren't on track yet, in part due to the stinking cold I've picked up. Again I'm going to blame it on air-conditioning and students! Hopefully it'll clear up before 28th February because......pa, pa-pa-pa, pa-pa, pa, paaaaaaaa......I'm going away again. Shanghai this time, quite a lot of snow in China at the moment so there's time for that to thaw before I go too. Don't really know what's there, but it was a very cheap flight and I've got time to check a few guidebook before I go. Anyone been there? send me some suggestions if you have.

Bangkok

I didn't take many pictures in Bangkok (more than the zero I took in England though! shocking), but I've uploaded a few photos of tuk-tuks and the golden palace. Click the 'Bangkok' title to be whisked away to the website.

Hakone

A three month gap, must be the longest so far!

Firstly, I've changed to another photo hosting service but it's still playing silly buggers when I try to link to old pictures. Despite me putting a link to the photobucket website it still goes to shutterfly when I try it. Hopefully its more successful for the rest of you!

Hmmm, quite difficult to remember what's happened, guess that's the problem with leaving massive gaps between my posts. I'll try and do it fairly chronologically.

At the end of October I went to Hakone with Akane for a night, its a tourist spot not too far from Tokyo. Basically it has hot springs, eggs cooked in the sulphuric springs which turn black and supposedly add 5 years to your life when you eat them (tasted horrible), a big lake with fake commercial pirate ship included and some nice walks and scenery once you get away from the crowds of people evident everywhere in Japan.

In Novermber the only thing of note I remember is sustaining 2 injuries. I pulled or twisted a muscle in my back kickboxing and went to a physiotherapist for massage and acupuncture and around the same time I did something to a finger on my right hand. The back was much more of a problem at the time but I got it sorted in around a week, however my finger is still swollen and I can't get my ring over the knuckle 2 months on. I'm thinking I should go to a doctor soon as my personal diagnosis of a sprain might not be so accurate.

December saw a few Christmas parties, no silly behavior or drunken stories from me or anybody else I know though. I went home for 10 days or so and saw a lot of family and friends, then called in to Bangkok on the way back to Tokyo. I took surprisingly few photos in both these ventures but i'll dig them out soon and see what I can find.

I started work again three days ago, but am yet to go back to either of my gyms after a huge break, I think tomorrow or Sunday will be D-Day.I have a few days off this month so am planning on getting away somewhere else in Japan for a night or two so there may be more photos of me in a yukata coming soon...calm down ladies!!

If my system works then can see the Hakone photos by clicking on the Hakonetitle at the start of this post above the kitty character dressed in a black egg, you should be magically whisked to the correct site! If it doesn't work then console yourself with this picture of a t-shirt promoting the North of England.