| May. 11th, 2005 @ 10:28 pm This is gonna take a while (Read through and find the bit about penises! That will make you read it! |
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Feelin'------>:  tired
Listenin' to------>: TV
It's only been 2 or 3 weeks since I updated, so I don't feel as guilty as I should be, but it's gonna take some time to write this out, but seeing as how I have the conviction.....sorry if it gets incoherent :P
Before the report of the camping trip to Shikoku during this time we call Golden Week, a bit of a fill in about the last couple of week is required, to make it short (as can be), in point form.
-Got free paid trip to go to Nagoya to look at a mega cool house that Toyota has built which they say will be housing in 10 years. Does things like makes the music follow you around as you move from room to room, with a hybrid car will power the house for 1 1/2 days in case of a blackout, a bed with sensor that monitors your sleep in order to adjust the conditions so that you wake up more naturally (not disturbing your sleep patterns), has a storage system where you tell the control what you want, and it will deliver it to one of many places in the house (not unlike what you would find in a warehouse), etc etc. When I get back to work will post a report (copy and paste job). Also got ample time to sample the sights of Nagoya while I was there, as the tour finished at 1pm
-Went out clubbing 4 nights in one week. No wonder I am so poor and living off cup ramen at the moment
-Got picked up and (seemingly) dumped again
-Learnt that I got equal best mark in HBI341(H) and would have been able to attend my second Swinny awards ceremony (sigh)
-Learnt that some friends will make their way to Tokyo (and hopefully stay) on the JET program (3 applications for 3 acceptances, not a bad circle of friends!)
-Just realised that Learnt does not include a comma, and subsequently that my English really is becoming worse
-Planned trip to Shikoku and went on trip to Shikoku
-Found out that at the age of 23, I'm FINALLY gonna become and uncle! Congrats Jacqueline!
(I'm sure there is more, but I really cant remember)
So, with 11 days off work in a row, it was time to have some fun and get outta Tokyo. About a month ago we decided that the smallish island of Shikoku, with promised nature abound, was our destination. We chose overnight bus as our form of transport as it's half the price of plane or Shinkansen. Also, to get closer to nature, we did it camping style (with rent-a-car, there is no other way in Shikoku!)
Made it to Tokyo station to get the bus juuuuust on time, with like minutes to spare. My work mate came with a relatively small backpacking like bag, whereas I came with my mega huge suitcase (thanks again guys!). Mind you I had things to sleep on and stuff in that back, but compared to the rest I still couldn't help feeling like a little bit of a diva! Then when we get to put the bags underneith the bus, they say there isn't any more room (cos they can put more seats in the bus at the expense of luggage). First problem. They asked us to send it by overnight post, but that was not on! So thank god there was one seat free and could chuck the baggage there.
After the shithouse sleep on the bus, arrived at Takamatsu at the ripe time of 6am in the morning. Rent-a-car pickup was 8, so had 2 hours to kill. Went to an old castle that has been turned into a park and was now only 1/8 of the size of yore. Was still a nice way to spend the time. After the car pickup, went shopping for food then off on our adventures! First stop was a temple that was the last stop of 88 temples that is a famous pilgramige in Shikoku. From long ago, pilgrims would visit all 88 temples on foot to gain enlightenment and whatnot (I suspect some corns as well). Quite a noble thing to do even if it has no religious connections. However, it still doesn't stop modern day Japanese whip around all 88 in 1 week or less in cars (we saw some at number 38, but more about that later). Also, this pilgramige was the subject of a movie, where someone went the wrong way and unleashed some kind of evil! We had breif thoughts of attempting the anti-pilgrimage, but then thought of 1000 better things to do with our time. But these walking pilgrims, they have courage I tell you. On the day when it poured all day long, some were still out there climbing the mountains in search for the next temple. They say it takes about 60 days to see them all on foot.
After that temple, it was off to, ummm, a temple! But this one was much more interesting. Up to the main temple, there are 800 odd steps. As we were climbing there were some Japanese school girls on some kinda school trip. Almost everyone we walked past said hello and was giggling (any pedophiles wet dream, alas). One group even remarked in Japanese as we walked away that their hello consituted 'International conversation'. Funny stuff. We got to the main temple which was really pretty after a while, but managed to convince ourselves that the walk up to the very top was a must. So in total we climbed over 1300 steps. But it was really worth it. The top temple was a really serine place. Just one bulding with a guy in robes reading a book in the top. (Young and kinda hot as well, but it was just not the time :P)it just gave you the image of the old times where people would fill their heads with knowleadge and wisdom instead of using the internet......ummmmmm.........After savouring the sights made the relaxing walk down.
Camping place for the night was next to a river in a very small out of the way camp ground. Took us 1/2 an hour to find it, and it was perfect. The second best of the trip. It was comfortable camping while being out in the wilderness. Spent the rest of the night under the stars talking and sleeping about 10 coz we were so fucked.
Day 2 was somewhat more strenuous. First we went to see both of the sites where they have bridges made of out vines. This was apparently old way of crossing the river, and prefered as you could cut it if you have people pursiung you. Needless to say these days they were reinforced with steel cabling. But still unstable enough to sway around when you walking on it and enough space for your foot to fall through if you lay a foot wrong. After the excitement went to have lunch in a little family run restaurant across the way. This was the kinda place where they have the little 8 year old girl serving you the food (did I mention pedophile?), this was how family run it was. It seemed like they had 10 kids in their brood. Now I knew I was in the country!
After the soba (for which Shikoku is really famous apparently) we went to go to the top of the second highest mountain in Shikoku. Needless to say Japanese convenience was there all the way. Drive most of the way, get a chair lift up to 200 meters below the top, then walk the last couple of hundred meters. The lift ride up was really nice though. 15 minutes and you get to see the mountains from the comfort of the seat (but it has to be said that the ride back was better, as your back wasn't towards the mountains :P). If only it wasn't for the crappy funeral music they were playing there it would be perfect!
Once getting to the top, stood around and looked for a while, which is all you really can do at these kinda things. It was really pretty though, that has to be said. You may think you see one mountain you've seen them all, but they are different. Also, there was still some snow left at the top of the mountain. Given that it's almost Summer here, that's impressive! We walked past some and it's as hard as hard can be.
Then it was time to find a camp place and settle down for the night. We chose this Auto-camp place. Reminded me so much of going camping for a month or more in the Summer in Australia. It had the lake, the 'permanent tent city' feel and everything. Decided that we would make a 5 hour drive the next day to a place that we wanted to go to.
Woke up and took said drive. While long, it was quite worth it. We went to the southernest place in Shikoku. There was a lighthouse and many rocks to see. There was also this road where the trees were to thickly grown, that in their constant search for sunlight had grown over the road to form a natural tunnel like think. Quite cool. Also went for a walk around to this place where there was a huge thing kinda like London Bridge in Vic, before it fell down. Might have been seen by these eyes before, but was still nice to be out in the open. Then went back to the 38th temple of the 88, which had the best atmosphere ever. was kinda like a really small town with the serenity that you would expect from that kinda place. Also, as can be found in the pictures, this temple seemed to worship the turtle, whos head looks mysteriously like a penis. Little did we know it wasn't the last we were gonna see of penile effigies. (Also forgot to mention before about the statue of the boy pissing off the cliff in the Iya valley, Shikoku must have a love of penises) Also encounted another busload of 'pilgrims' taking the easy way out.
Being a little tired, and figuring we were gonna need to put in a few more miles to even get close to our destination the next day, made a few more hours drive to our camp spot for the night. We were on our way to some other Auto-camp site, where we saw a map on the street of camp places in the area. There was this one on a tiny island about 1/2 an hour away from where we were, so we headed there.
This place was the most charming that I have ever been too! As the night wore on, I could feel myself warming more and more to the place, even though I had only been there for a few hours. If I knew one of the people there, I could have sooooo stayed for a few months. It was a really tiny small fishing village, of only about 20 houses. The kind where they have a small wharf of their own and go out fishing in the night. Also they run a diving place out of there. On the toilet walls, there were posters selling trips on the fishing boat fishing for squid, pity we didn't see it earlier.... Anyway, got into the place and seeing as how it was so small, couldn't figure out where the hell the camping place was. Asked a few people. Christian (the german guy who was with me) pulled up to this guy I thought of as suspicious to start off with. Not in the dodgy way but the old grampa way. And boy was I right. he was slurring his words all over the place and when he was talking was dribbling from the mouth. Made me kinda feel like at home :P After a few people we asked a lady and she said the patch of grass near the water is used as a camp ground, and the showers that the divers use are availiable for anyone. So this is where we spent the night. Seeing as how we were quite early, had a few beers and chatted the night away under the stars. We would have been just in time for the most beautiful sunset if it hadn't been for the clouds. This was the most perfect night had in Shikoku. Words cannot express how I felt about that place. The kind of village where everyone is sure to know eachother and live peaceful lives. Needless to say that there was probably some scandel going on at the time that we didn't see and everyone was at eachother throats :P
This is the night were it started to piss down rain, something majorly. I woke up half wet. To make matters worse, the showers we discovered were cold water only. Great, what I need to start the day. Had the worst shower of my live (save the 1998 gas outage in Victoria) and made our way along the road. Did I mention how the roads are the size of a spaghetti noodle? This made our driving speed even slower, and much more dangerous. Like we needed anything else to help us drive over the edge of a cliff. Nothing much eventful until we made it to Uwajima. If anyone has read the Shikoku section of Lonely Planet Japan, they will know the reason we went there. SEX MUSEUM! Yes, and to make things worse it was in the middle of a temple. Apparently there were alot of temples dedicated to the penile shaft and all beauty that comes from within it. Walking into this place, it was a very jungle like temple. Kinda small and lots of vines etc. Then we spot our first penis. A smallish kidna thing sticking out of the ground. While laughing at that we almost managed to miss the racoon statue behind with the hugest fucking balls that you have ever seen. Either his a freak of nature or was seriously loaded. Making our way along the path, we come to the big wooden penis, just sitting there infront of the building. The size of a good couple of meters, it would have made Mr. Slave from South Park weep is used as the same way the real thing is. This was mearly a taste of things to come. Paying our 800 yen we walked through the doors of the museum. Only one thing can be said about this place. HOW FUCKED UP CAN THE JAPANESE GET. Now I can see where the inspiration for those sadistic Anime where the devil fucks a 12 yo girl. BECAUSE THEY WERE DRAWING THESE THINGS HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO! There were too many things that we saw to mention them all here, but will give you the juciest.
-Devil like creatures penetrating 5 women at the same time (he didn't have 5 cocks, so use your imagination)
-Beastiality on a grand scale (cats, dogs whatever licking girls pussies and penetration)
-Karma sutra positions
-The forest of 500 penile statues
-A weird kind of research where there were lots of peoples pubilc hair stuck to various cards showing their age, sex, occupation, etc that were collected earlier this last century
-Picture of a hermaphrodite
I could list more, but it would take me years. After the excitement we continued in the rain to Matsuyama, the place where I was to come home, after staying a night. Went to Matsuyama castle, which really wasn't much different from any other castle, but included a history museum of the castle that was kinda interesting (can you see I'm getting tired of writing this :P) We then made our way to Dogo Onsen, which is apparenlty the oldest in Japan. Was kinda crowded due to the holidays, but was still good at the same time, for various reasons :P We paid a little extra to get the good service. Yukata and refreshments at the end of it. I don't know how long you are meant to be in those baths, but I can't last more than 10 minutes. Really really hot. While towling off, there was this young guy there as well that had tattoos plastered all over his body. Yakuza for sure. The thing that most gave it away was he was running round naked doing things for this older guy, like getting his coat etc. You could tell he was quite low ranking in the organisation.
Seeing as how the tent was still wet from the rain, and probably the ground as well, we made out way to a business hotel for the night. Really just a cheap hotel for the times where you don't care where you stay and need a place quick. Needless to say it came with pay porn, which we were tempted to see but 300 yen for 1/2 hour wasn't worth it.
The next day was time to go home. The german guy I was with went off to Kyushu by ferry and I took the midnight bus back home. This time was much more pleasant. Space for my luggage, plenty of foot space and side space, and a cute guy next to me, what could be better! So after dozing off I woke up in the land of smut we call Shinjuku and walked back home.
That is it! But just a couple of points that didn't fit in there, but are worth noting. Both of them stange names for places that I haven't seen it Tokyo. The first was a family restaurant called 'JoyFun' If you named a place like this in Australia, you would guarantee it's failure, but from the look of how many there were, it seems to be doing well in Shikoku. The second was a computer/game/DVD store named 'Wonder Goo'. Now this is the first time I've seen the advertisement for the smut kept out the back bigger than the family friendly stuff in the front :P
If you managed to get through all of that to this, thank you. Otherwise, at least it will still be here for me to read over. There will also be a shitload of pics up on http://shingomama19.fotopic.net when I get off my ass to put them there (should be in a few days) |
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