Having visited the Forbidden City on a previous week we missed Tiananmen Square, so we decided to head that way and have a look. Subway line 1 is always very busy and today did not disappoint however we battled our way through the crowds and made it in one piece. Security is very tight at Tiananmen Square, but if you have nothing to hide you wont have any issues, the obligatory X-Ray scanners are put through their paces in Beijing’s Subway stations and check points. The percentage of plain clothes officers and military wandering around in the crowds would be an interesting fact to find out!

We wandered around the square with the other hundreds of Chinese tourists and felt the very patriotic grasp of China through flags, massive TV screens with more flags and music on loop, stone monoliths, the museum where you can visit Chairman Mao himself (preserved in a glass coffin for all to see) and large socialist “can do / power to the people” statues. We did not go to see Mao but you can still feel the past here in many ways. China is moving forward but relics of the past will be a continuous reminder of a grander/darker side depending on which side you lean towards.

Not too far from the historic and splendor of Tiananmen we went in search of Beijing’s underground city streets. Instead we found the deprived areas of Beijing with falling down Hutongs and streets, a big contrast from where we had come from. The underground city was closed (possibly due to safety concerns) so we headed for a Chinese massage which had been recommended to us. We eventually found the venue and enjoyed a 60 minute session at The Dragonfly Retreat which we both loved. Very low light, serene music and the full body massage were a lethal combination, Helen fell to sleep at one point! All for a bargain price of £15 each.

Within walking distance is the more commercial street Wangfujing. Here you have department stores and old electronics shops that appear to be waiting their doom as construction is happening all around. St Joseph’s Church is a little further up Wangfujing and as we approached there appeared to be some kind of fude going on in the grounds of the church. Like the locals we decided to have a little nosey at what was happening. We saw a bride wrapped up in a man’s coat, whilst her husband to be argued with an official from the church. The police were on the scene and there was some kind of dispute surrounding them having their wedding photos taken on the grounds of the church. They were all still there 15 minutes or so later and the bride and groom did not appear to budge from their request.

We have seen quite a few couples having their wedding photographs taken in Beijing, it’s a common site especially around the 798 area. We heard from a friend that they have their wedding photos done here one year before their wedding day!! So on the surface is the bride dressed in a beautiful dress, hair and make-up styled professionally and underneath is a pair of jeans and trainers with a coat nearby to cover themselves up. The wedding photography industry is booming here apparently! We can see why!

5 minutes further down the street and you find the city’s most famous snack street. Although this is relatively new to the city it is a short strip of several food stalls selling anything from souvenir tat to fried wriggling scorpions and star fish ready to eat, if you so desire. We passed on the offer of a char-grilled chicken fetus on a stick! We decided not to opt for the snack street that day. This really is one for the gallery! Street food in China is a big thing and we have seen people with sticks of fruit coated in sugar happily scoffing down this sweet treat. We purchased this Winter Beijing snack and can see why people love them, they are great, like little soft brambly apples covered in syrup, if you have a sweet tooth you would be hooked!

We headed back to the apartment and cooked up our own evening meal of noodles, vegetables and tofu in a soy sauce.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Helen didn’t have the best night sleep, it was pretty chilly in our room and the painted tigers on the walls did little to make us feel warm either. The bell rang at 5.50am and we made our way to the shrine area for the morning chant. The morning air was chilly and it took some time to warm up in the shrine room. The chants lasted for about 45 minutes as the sun rose behind closed doors. It was an interesting experience and really shows the dedication that the monks have to their traditions and beliefs.

Once the ceremony had finished breakfast was served in the dining room. Another vegetarian meal of rice, soup, pickles, shredded veg, spongy tofu and green tea. We both pretty much finished the breakfast, however the same textures and flavors do become quite tedious when you are eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner! The morning light in the corridor and our room needed some photographic attention so we duly obliged.

We made our way back down the village to where we got dropped off yesterday (at the wrong monastery) and headed for the cemetery; Oku-No-In which had been recommended to us by the Dutch couple we had met the night before and is a mass of graves stones, shrines and temples. So with clean air in our lungs and the sun on your faces we headed off down the road. Maybe due to the cooler air at this altitude the leaves on the trees were at a much more autumnal stage and they looked very picturesque. The intense reds and oranges really pop and with a blue sky backdrop they look lovely. The cemetery is vast and contains thousands of graves from common folk to military generals.

There is a stone in a wooden cage structure here, the Miroku Stone. You can only get one hand through the gap in the wood and you are supposed to lift the rock up on to a shelf. The weight of the stone is supposed to change for each person, the less sins you have the lighter the stone will be. Dave failed on his first and second attempt, his sins are too high! Third attempt he made it but that’s a bit late really!

After walking back to pick up our bags we jumped on the bus, in the right direction and we caught the next cable car down the mountain valley before catching the train to our next stop Osaka. We spotted a cool place on the internet before we left the UK called Hostel 64 created by an architecture firm in Osaka, so with Hotel Michelberger, Berlin from early 2010 in our minds we booked two nights stay here to complete our travel in Japan. We arrived and checked into our room which was a nice size and then headed to the roof for a look over the roof tops. The sun was shining which we haven’t had much of in Japan so it made sense to soak up some rays (and take some photos)! The light and shadows were fabulous, so after some photos we decided to head out to The Umeda Sky Building to see some views of the city and catch the sunset. We just about made it in time to see the sun disappear over the horizon in a fiery red glow.

We headed back to the hostel area to eat locally as we had read of a local Korean restaurant which seemed like a good idea. We had a map from the hostel but could not get our bearings and local landmarks were not where we thought they should be. In a nutshell in Japan there are lots and lots of Family Marts and convenience stores. One of these was marked on the map so we used that as our reference. That was not the correct Family Mart, it was on the other side of the block! Not knowing this, we ended up going for a little restaurant that specialised in Yakitori; Japanese barbecue chicken. We had a mix of chicken, salad, tofu soup and a rice ball. The rice ball was toasted over hot coals in a sticky sesame sauce served with pickles, lovely!

Feeling full and still frustrated from wandering around for an hour looking for Korean food we headed back to the hostel for a beer in the bar and then bed.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We woke up to people using the washing areas, kitchen noise and the constant sound of rain. We were pretty relieved to know that we were moving upstairs to a quitter part of the guesthouse and it was also really comforting starting the day off with a good bowl of porridge. The rain was set for the day so we had to think about what we wanted to do that wouldn’t involved us getting absolutely soaked all day. Simon had a few ideas so we went along with those.

The first part of the day saw us walk up to the local fish market – around a fifth of the size of the one in Tokyo but it showcased it’s local famous crab – some of which had been freshly caught that day and were still clapping their claws together, others had been caught over a year ago and were seen as more of a delicacy. We were shocked to see that some crabs were on sale for up to 40,000 yen – somewhere around £300!!

After our little market experience we walked through the Kanazawa Castle grounds empty of tourists in the rain but you could still appreciated this beautiful site completed only in 2001 so it was very white and clean. Coming out of the grounds led us to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, a very minimal low to the ground glass-structured building. As we approached the gallery so did a bus load of school children, you really can’t avoid the school groups at any major tourist or art attraction over here. In the foyer they all lined up and listened intently to their teacher’s instructions, so we aimed to get a bit of a head start on the groups and darted into the gallery. The first group exhibition titled “Invisible reality” hosted works by Mona Hatoum, Anish Kapoor and Vik Muniz. Works by Muniz combined were a large collection of photographic prints showing injected bubble marks forming a pattern from re-constructed star-maps using NASA software. Each piece was a re-creation of the night sky-maps during key moments in time such as the fall of the Berlin wall. This was a pretty impressive piece of work.

The main exhibition was a collection of works by performance artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss, think Honda car advertising and people dressed as a bear and a panda exploring Japan and other parts of the world. Quite humorous at times but also a little strange.

It was still raining when we left but had decided we would go to the local tourist exchange salon down town where they were holding classes in local craft. The craft we would learn was to make flowers out of fabric along with several other local ladies who were impressed and intrigued as to how we found out about the class. Namaste have a sheet that advertises what’s happening at the exchange salon so it was pretty easy for us to find. It was a really fun experience if a little surreal and we all walked out with a couple of bunches of flowers made from fabric and wire. Very cute, Dave was particularly good at this and showed off every little flower he made to a warm reception of cooing middle aged Japanese ladies impressed with his skill. ha ha!

Our next skill learning task was to go to a guitar shop and learn to play the shamisen a traditional Japanese instrument mostly played by Geisha. The family who run the workshop have been making this instrument for over a hundred years. We were led upstairs, had a powdered green tea and sweet and were instructed that we would be teaching ourselves. The video footage will describe the sound these instruments create. Helen was jamming out at various stages whilst Simon and Dave focused intently on get the correct notes. It was really funny and got us out of the rain for a short while. This was our last port of call before heading back via the packs eagles circling above a bridge over the river.

Later on we called Dave’s parents on Skype, bought discounted sushi from the supermarkets and planned a wee trip out for Dave’s birthday!! One more sleep to 27!!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)