The reminder of pains of War.... Hiroshima

By far the most moving city I have been to yet.
To think the entire city is only 60 years old and was completely wiped out in the world first nuclear bomb explosion.

Anyways, ill start off from the beginning...

My trip to Hiroshima started off a bit rocky to say the least... I arrived by Shinkansen (Bullet Train) and asked information about the location of the hostel, to my absolute delight i was told its 30 min by train outside of the town... *joy....* so onto another train and out of town i headed, the hostel was in a town called "Miyajima".

Here i was 25 min later not seeing the station I hopped off at Miyajimaguchi, it seemed close enough. I asked the guard at the station and Yippee!! The place i was looking for was 20 min by FERRY over the water... *sigh* so off i went with my 30KG backpack onto a ferry... got to the dock on the other side and again asked the guard... "oh no, that's on the other side just next to the dock, its the white building on the left" *Steffen falls over*

So once again I was sailing away... Finally found the hostel, and i couldn't check in till 4pm, so i had 2 hours to kill..

What you think i did??

I bought the ferry to the Island again and went exploring :) The ticket inspector did a double take when he accepted my ticket.

The island it self was beautiful enough, it had a mountain you could climb, waterfalls, beaches, and a shrine.
The first thing I noticed was deers, deers and more deers everywhere.... They were so tame you could walk up and touch them and then they ate your map. DAMIT, now how can I get around...

The Shrine in the sea just off the island was over 1000 years old, its often in pictures that are linked to Hiroshima even though its well outside the city and in a differ prefecture.

There was also a aquarium on the island which, was cheap to enter, I later found out it had only opened that day!! hence was so cheap. Was a stock standard aquarium but there was these shellfish that looked like fossils and I had never seen a live one before pictured on the side, they are Japanese Horseshoe Crabs.

(Pictured on the left.)

Once seeing that it was time to head back and check in, that night i was going to head into town and see the lantern boats in the river, today was the 66th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

While checking in I could hear a few guys talking in Danish, into introduced myself and they were looking at doing the same then heading out, so we all decided to go together.

The Lanterns were special to see, there was also live music and lights and it was a really special event, with the Abomb dome as the back drop.

The next day, there was a festival back in Miyajima called the sundance festival which was raising money for the red cross for the earthquake victim. It was 40oC outside and humid, and no shade... it was a "real beach party". Dehydration + to much to drink i had a early departure.

The following day, I visited Hiroshima and the war museum. It was by far one of the most somber museum. they went through the history of Hiroshima and its involvement in the war's past and up to WW2, then the events leading up to the bombing and the dockets from america stating the selection of the sites.
Then the bombing and the devastation.

They also showed cloths, items and effects that were collected after the bombing.
I only took 2 photos of the models of the city, before and after. I don't believe its fair on the anyone regardless of axis of allies to take photos of war history items, special when its such a significant event.

I also visited the memorial to Sadako Sasaki the girl who died of cancer as a result of the Abomb, and started the 1000 paper cranes movement. These days there are millions of paper cranes at the monument and around at the entire peace park. They are not just in in cranes, but they are also in mosaics made out of cranes.

All I can say is if you ever find your way to Hiroshima i would highly recommend seeing the war museum it was a real eye opener and very informative to the work being done by hiroshima council and there commitment to the disarmament of nuclear weapons around the world.








Anyways, I really enjoyed my 3 days in Hiroshima and the nearby islands.

Off to Osaka now to try and sort out a visa to China, then I'm off to South Korea!

Just Hanging around in Kyoto.

I was in Kyoto for 3 nights, and took lots of time to see the history of the town.

Kyoto is filled with shrines, temples and monuments.
Kyoto is one of the oldest cities in Japan, and is absolutely filled with history. I spent a entire day walking around and seeing shrines and temples, some impressive then others, and all with people worshiping and praying in them. So it was not the place to be taking to many happy snaps.

While in Kyoto I caught up with some German's I met in Tokyo, completely at random we were in the same hostel at the same time, so we ended up seeing the nightlife in kyoto together as well.

The following day i went to the Imperial Palace in Kyoto, a 1000+ year old castle. Where the emperor use to live a 100 years ago.
The palace was full of lovely buildings with gold plated frameworks and bark roofs that take 20 years to replace and have to be replaced every 25 years... so was quite a impressive task.

The days in Kyoto were unbelievable HOT 35-40 oC and humid as.... so walking around the city was just a nightmare during the day.

The following day it started to cool off a little and i moved outside of the city to a town on the outskirts, where the famous bamboo walk and snow monkeys could be found. I rented a bike and peddled my way around as after 7 odd days of walking none stop i was starting to get tired of walking.

The Bamboo walk was impressive, a huge forest of bamboo trees.
Again there was also loads of tamales and shrines to see in the town, I only stopped off at 2 or 3 this time. After seeing so many I was truly all shrined out.

There was some sand art going on in the town which was cool, and all the proceeds from the event were going to the red cross for the Japan appeal. You could actually find in every shop and hostel some way to donate, and even the restaurants and clubs would take there Tips and put it directly to the cause.

Anyways back on topic, I moved from the bamboo forest to the "monkey mountain" a quick 160 meter elevation climb which was easy after fuji ;)

I really enjoy the Japanese way of conveying a message on the signs some of them have pictures which are a real laugh...

After reaching the top i was greeted not just with a fantastic view over the ancient city, but also with these monkeys just going about there business.


We could enter the building at the top and purchase apples and peanuts to feed the monkeys from inside the caged house... (so yeah the humans are the ones in the cage lol...)



Then it started to bucket down with rain and that concluded my days in Kyoto.

To the top and back again

From Tokyo, I moved to Kawaguchiko next to Mt Fuji,

After hearing stories from other backpackers, I decided to try and night climb the mountain to get to the top at about 4am and see the sunrise.

I left the hostel at 6pm and arrived on the mountain side just as the sun was setting.
I wasn't able to see Mt Fiji till I was already on it due to heavy cloud and the sight was breath taking once i could see the peak. I was at the 5th climbing station above the clouds when i could see the peak, and i could see how far i had to walk.




I arrived at the 5th station just as the sun set over Fuji, the path I had to walk would take me from the west side of fuji, seeing the sun set to the east side to see the sunrise again.

The climb was to be done by 1000's of people that night from every bracket of ages, the 7-10 year olds up to grand parents who i swear could almost not walk let alone climb yet they where.

The Climb was broken up into stages, marked by these stations. At each station there was sleeping beds, first aid, toilets and food drink etc. The higher you climbed the more expensive items became naturally, as getting the resources up to these stations was hard as there was no cable cars or roads up and down the mountain to resupply them.

The climb itself took me 9 hours or so, along the way I would take several stops every 30 min or so as the higher you got the less air, and the harder it was.

I met loads of people that night including a couple of girls from america that had decided to climb that night without a torch, warm cloths or food, a very expensive decision considering the cost of those items on the mountain. Never the less i helped light the way for them with a few Japanese guys for a while till after about 3 hours they purchased a touch and sped on ahead. (It was about 2oC when the picture on the right was taken at the 7th station.)

I was less than 100 meters from the summit when the sun rays started showing. Everyone on the mountain stopped, found a place to sit and took in the sight. The atmosphere and the tranquility was amazing, its was dead silent till the sun showed then the 1000+ people on the mountain side erupted into a cheer and photos and stories of the 9 hour climb filled the air.

From there it took me about another 45 min to climb the last 100 meters, the air was so thin it was like running a triathlon each step, but i did reach the summit at about 5 am and then crashed in a hut there for a few hours to sleep, while i tried to shake the altitude sickness so i could walk around the crater. But never the less it didn't help and when i woke at 7am the clouds were rolling up the mountain and you couldn't see 5 metres in front of you, so there was really no point, so i decided to go back down.

At the very top of the mountain there was a final set of huts and camps (As stated above i took a nap in one), but there was also a building with a shrine, and loads of vending machines, these reaffirm the Japanese fascination with vending machines, if they have dragged 4 of them up to the very top of Mt Fuji. I found if quite amusing.

The picture on the side if the shrine that was in one of the houses at the top of fuji.

The climb down as even tougher, i had some 5 hours of 135 degree decline down loose rubble that was like walking on a sand dune down, only it hurt when you fell :) but never the less i made it safe and sound.

As you can see in the image on the left the cloud/fog was crazy thick and this lasted all the way down from the top of Mt Fuji till the 5th station where the tree line started and the busses could drive to.






This has by far been a amazing experience and i would love to do it again one day with family and friends, it really was a amazing enlightening experience.

"Time" in Tokyo.

After 4 days its time to move on from tokyo to my next stop,

(P.s the slide shows below have pictures on wrong angles and not in order, i will fix this next time its just the way i uploaded them to the net and i couldn't be bothered fixing it.... and the animation is automatic.)

My trip started out in Asakusa.
I arrived at the hostel with only minutes to spare before they closed, and in the dark of night.
The next morning, I found myself in the centre of a tourist hot spot, only 250 meters from the street that leeds up to the Senso-ji Temple.

I started off that day by visiting the Senso-ji Temple and talking with a local for a hour or 2. The temple is very beautiful and the level of detail in the work and buildings. The statues all had different gestures and faces, as well as uniforms.

I visited the new Tokyo Sky tower being constructed but couldn't get it, however i did manager to get to the base of it and see just how massive and impressive it was.

That night I visited Shibuya where there is a spacial crossing with masses of neon lights and people like time square in NY.



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The following day i started out by visiting the Imperial palace. I visited the sight where you can see the palace and a stone bridge, then I moved one of many parks in Tokyo, and found a replica viking stone.

I visited the tokyo tech town.
I must admit its not quite what i expected, i was thinking it would be shops with new gadgets and cameras and phones and thing.
But instead it was random electrical items like light, with 1 or 2 computer shops but the rest were dedicated to the japanese cult following if anime. With ladies dressed out as characters out of animation cartoon series  trying to get nerds in to buy films and see shows.
Even the saga zones which normally in western countries is arcade games and like was 3/5 full floors of the claw UFO toy grabbing things... with at least 1/2 of them in use by people.
Definitely a interesting thing to see....

From there i hoped on the wrong train and ended up at a random station, so i went for a walk and found a nice little temple with some statues and a dojo.

I finished off the night with my first sushi in tokyo, not bad although it wasn't what i expected... I prefer the set meal, it seems to be easier to get what you ask for. also with all the plastic displays its interesting to see what some of the items task like.



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My 2nd last day in tokyo i started out in the fish markets, up at 6am to catch a train and get to the markets while all the good stuff is still on display.
The outside markets were what you would come to expect or stereotype a outdoor market to be, lots of small shops each with there own unique way of preparing the dishes and items.
There was fish flakes, small dried fish you eat as chips, omelettes on a stick, fruits of every shape and colour and normally a shop to back them all up where you could try the dish.

For some reason though they were rather upset when you asked if you could take photos.. so it was hard a lot of the time to get pictures of these items.

After exploring the outside I tried to work my way into the main market, unfortunately since the large earthquake they have closed all the tourist access to the tuna auctions and main markets.
However by following some of the crowds and sneaking past a few guards i managed to get into the main market area. By this time the tuna auctions had already finished but the main market area was still teeming with activity.
Fish, Shell fish, Turtles, Eels, Snails of all shapes, colours and all fresh for a entire city block.
Again the locks were stand offish to the idea of photos but i took  few none direct photos of the stalls.

I took the advice of many guide books and had some sushi at the markets, the difference to the night before was like night and day, this was super fresh and tasty.

That afternoon a caught up with some old warcraft buddies of mine and went to the tokyo tower, the view from 150 odd meters off the side walk was amazing, you could truly get a gasp on how large tokyo is as a city.

we then went to Shibuya for dinner, we had this stone with 2  different types of soup that you then cook your meat and veggies in. The soup gives a different taste to the meats and adds the favour. A very interesting meal.

It was great to finally meet a few of the guys that i have played with over the net for 3-5 years now, and think back over the old times.

When i arrived back at the hostel a party had just started for a staff member that was leaving the hostel, it continued into the night and we ended up in the "red light" district of tokyo at a night club. Little did i know that the trains stopped at midnight and that was all good, we rocked on in the club till 6m and then headed back. A lot of fun.



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Last day i was a little bit "under the weather" from the night before, so i took a boat ride and relaxed and took some time out to write this piece. ;)

So where to next? will see in a few days...

Packed and Ready Including Teddy.

I’m off, off and away.

Im off and away, after a few issues in Sydney with tickets and check-in, I have arrived in Tokyo and off to the hostel.

A tradition in the Duelund family (well since I was a little one) was that I get presents to keep me amused on my travels.  When I was 10 or so I got a my first hand held computer games on a Gameboy, and other times I have gotten books and so forth.

When I was 7, I went to Denmark with my father, however the trip didn’t start well. I had to leave my teddy that I had traveled with since I was 2, at home, however a bit of trickery with mum’s help and it was stuffed in the bag, only to be ripped out as soon as the plane left the ground, much to dads dismay.

Bringing the story back to the presents,

I got a present the day before I was due to fly out, it was a large well rapped present. I opened it and it was my teddy, much to my parents delight and laughter. They suggested I take it and place it in my bag like I use to when I traveled as a young one. Shown below:

After arriving in Tokyo I had all of 1 hour 20 min to get from the airport to the city, and check into my hostel at Asakusa.

The train system is simple although ill take a picture of the map later, it looks like a bowl of noodles, I almost fell over when I seen it.  But once I was under way it was simple enough to follow the paths.

I made it to the hostel with a few minutes to spare before reception closed.

A brief night walk up and down the streets around the hostel for 2 hours and then found a nice shop that sold a mean chicken curry (oh my it was sooooo good). Then back to hostel and crash…

So…. now I’m in japan… ok…? Now what???

See what tomorrow brings.  

2 Weeks to go. Not that im counting or anything....

Well I sold my old car, Ive got the PDF's of travel guides, Downloaded Translation App's on my phone for all the starting countries. Ive got my bags... ok well maybe not yet. But 2 weeks is loads of time to pack for a years trip isnt it??
 Soo yeah im ready...

Im not going to put anything techy in these blogs but i was quite happy with my little idea to backup my photos. My little laptop's only got 20GB free space so I needed some way to off load the data, and USB disks although great are just to risky for a years trip. So here it comes...

./propellar hat on
Ive found a brilliant way of backing up my photos, quite nerdy actually....
I got a free 250 MB cloud storage folder with "Dropbox", I installed the agent on my mini server in Aus.
Then created a script (xcopy easy and simple) on the server to copy the Dropbox folder to another folder on the server, with only files that have changed.
Then i can clear out the Dropbox every few days and upload more. Ensuring that there is always a copy in AUS (as long as the servers up), Server also has inbuild backup to a external HDD...
./propellar hat off

This would give those at home a local copy to view of my photos and I can use it as a 3rd backup encase I lose my camera or laptop.


Ok promiss that will be the only techy thing I put on the blog... well maybe not.

Flights book

Booked my flights, hostel, and downloaded all the travel guides.

Also purchased a new laptop, to write out my trip on. Check it out: