16th August and again we stretched out our legs first thing and went for a walk! There is a lot of that to be done in this part of LA, mainly as we only have one bike between us, and it costs $20 a day if we want to rent one! We are trying to budget afterall.

We reached the Venice Marina Del Ray, which was a little of an anti-climax, again the weather was flat but we did come across a few interesting spaces and shapes along the way that caught our eye. When 11.30 came Helen went off to her teacher training course and Dave stayed local to take in more amazing skateboarders, and Venice beach fitness fanatics. This time a TV commercial was being filmed for the new Sponge-bob square pants computer game, so two young boys were attempting half-pipes one take after the other. Meanwhile a tattooed, pierced and very eclectic looking young man was receiving applaud after applaud for his amazing height on jumps and tricks. The skateboard park is such a good place for people watching! We cannot recommend it enough. Also engaging were the many squash and hand-ball players who fill out the courts all day long.

After Helen had finished her course for the day we along with John (Helen’s cousin) went out to UCLA ,Westwood Village to visit the Hammer Museum. There was a strong Paul Thek retrospective taking up a third of the gallery and recent works by Ed Ruscha were equally intriguing. We also enjoyed sitting in the open air atrium. It’s a very nice space to sit and watch the world go by. The museum charges $10 admission fee for the exhibits but you can sit in the atrium or visit the restaurant and bookshop for free! A short walk away is the Fox Theater, a famous landmark for movie premiers. We finished the night at another sushi favourite, recommended by John, Sushi Karen in Culver City.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM & Olympus PEN EP-1, 17mm f/2.8 & 100mm f/2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Hello and welcome…

This is part two of our top tips for travelling learnt whilst on our first five months away in Asia. Hopefully some of them will also come in use for our next adventure which we have planned for August 2011. More to come on that. So here’s part 2 of 3! Hope you find something useful.

Whilst on our travels we heard tales of survival and health remedies from lots of fellow comrades and we wanted to share the hints, tips and advice that we now take for granted. Part 2 of 3!

Japan Rail sites.
Japan was our first destination back in October 2010. As relative novices to this travelling lark we were thrown into the deep end with a non Latin character country such as Japan. Everyone here is refreshingly friendly and will help you as much as possible. Just a look of mild confusion upon oneself will be enough of an excuse for someone to lend a hand. Two sites that proved really useful for planning the train journeys around Japan are japantravel.co.uk and hyperdia.com.

Japantravel.co.uk has some great information on the Japan Rail Pass, unlimited use on all Japan Rail operated trains, valid for either 7, 14 or 21 days. We had a 14 day pass and travelled from Tokyo to Mount Fuji to Takayama to Kanazawa to Nanao back to Kanazawa to Kyoto to Koyasan to Kyoto to Osaka and finally to Kobe. Even use of the bullet train is permitted! As long as you travel far enough to make it worth while then it’s a great way to see Japan.

Hyperdia.com is a great resource which allows you to plan your journey on the trains around Japan with lots of routes and precise timetables to maximise the Japan Rail pass.

Tokyo subway.
Keeping with the Japanese travel theme there is a golden rule to remember when using the subway in Tokyo. Two companies run the whole network. This can easily cause a problem as we found out the first time we attempted to use it early one morning on our way to the Tsukiji Fish Market.

Tokyo Metro is a privately run section of the subway with 168 stations and 9 lines. TOEI is run by the government and operates 106 stations over four lines. Both are roughly the same price. Just check where you are going and make sure you buy the correct ticket, it is easy, just remember that’s its not all the same network.

The subways are indicated by station name, number and line colour/name. There are English Fare charts near the ticket vending machines. Some lines have adopted female only cars so check when you board to make sure you’re allowed on that cabin. If you traveled further than the ticket you bought allows, pay the extra fare at a fare adjustment machine located near the fare gates. At the exits of the station are really detailed maps that show you which exit you need to continue your journey.

Travellers diarrhoea, rehydration sachets and charcoal tablets.
Travellers diarrhoea is eventually going to happen at some stage on a round the world adventure. We found out that as well as taking a medical bag with the usual essentials (don’t forget an assortment of clean needles from dental to hypodermic etc which you can give to medical staff to use so you know they are safe) you will need plenty of rehydration sachets and possibly constipation and diarrhoea tablets to cover various eventualities. We were informed that pure charcoal tablets can really help when taking anti-diarrhoea tablets. They were quite pricey and huge in size, however they help to kill the bugs that are been held inside your gut due to the firming up medication! Oh and rehydration sachets are amazing at helping to get you through a hangover! (Do check with a pharmacist first…we are not medical experts!!)

Hot water everywhere, noodles, China.
In China and South-East Asia it’s normally not safe to drink the local tap water supply. Remember not to have drinks with ice and also clean your teeth with bottled water. Drinking bottled water may seem expensive, but in China is is relatively cheap to buy and they have plenty of boiling water supplies at most public places, hostels, and even on trains! The locals don’t drink the tap water, they use boiled water for making tea in flasks and for their favourite travel meal, rehydrated noodles which come in a vast array of flavours. They are actually quite nice and much better than the chicken feet they munch on! So get yourself a seal-able thermal flask for hot and clean water along with a box or two of noodles for no fuss, easy snacking.

Sleeping bag liner / pillow case.
A lightweight cotton sleeping bag liner is a must if you can squeeze one into your backpack. It means that any dodgy looking mattresses or blankets can be forgotten about, sleeper buses and trains are much more comfortable as you just don’t know how well they are cleaned, they are easy to wash and quick to dry! A pillow case does the same job, just stuff it with a hoodie etc and you have a makeshift pillow. Also with both of these, they can make great section dividers in your backpack which are easy to grab, e.g. dirty washing can be stored separately from everything else and all washed together / cooler climate clothes can be kept out of the way in the sleeping bag liner so not to get mixed up with everything else.

Part three will be coming soon! Part 1 is here! Do you have any top tips? Comment below or drop us an email and we can add your suggestions to the next post.

Early morning rise at 5.45am saw us take photos of the pink sunrise on Mt Fuji, the best light of the day. Dave went back for more zzz’s and Helen did some yoga.

Our western style breakfast echoed some likeness to what we would have in England; fried egg, hash brown and coffee, add to this a twist of Japanese with soup, salad, vegetables, fruit and yoghurt and it was enough to keep us going until 4pm! Never have we been faced by such well presented food cooked with care and imagination.

On our way into Kawaguchiko they told us they were going to watch their sons fight in a Kendo tournament. We asked if we could go to watch thinking it would be really cool for us to see and document. They didn’t mind taking us and thought it was funny that we wanted to go. It was well worth it though as we saw something that not many other tourists would be able to witness. A sports hall full of children fighting as a team but each time it is one vs one that takes the stage to fight. They are dressed traditionally in Kendo costume and fight with a wooden sword. Hiromi explained the technique and how to win points whilst her youngest daughter Coco-lo posed for photos for us. Their friends were there too with their children so we sat with them and joined in the local support for their team. It really was a fantastic experience and again demonstrated the kindness of our hosts. Taking a break from their sons first fight who demolished his opposition in less than one minute they drove us into Kawaguchiko and left us to explore the area.

It all seems a little dated to us, something that looks like it’s hey day was 20 years ago and nothing has really changed since. We found some good backstreets to explore, the lake had great views of the mountainous region and there was some filming going on – it happens quite a lot here, so we sat and guessed at what may be the point of their project, we decided on a soap opera!

Whilst walking we found a cafe that sold chai based on the outskirts of the village in a large greenhouse. By day a funky cafe and by night a pool-bar/club a really bizarre little find and we wished we could have been there at night. The main reason we stopped was that we couldn’t locate the path to the Fuji shrine, the maps tend not to mark all of the roads and if a path is marked on a map its not always marked on the street! This has at times caused us great confusion and frustration, but we always find a way around it. This time we called for a taxi and got a lift to the shrine…naughty but with limited time until dusk and after last night’s rushed walk in the dark sometimes you have to do these things. Taxi’s are not cheap here though and a 10 minute journey cost us around £15. Still we got to the shrine and it provided us with enough worth to validate the cost of the taxi. Set at the foot of Mount Fuji from the Fuji-Yoshida side you have a large temple with lot’s of other smaller shrines surrounding as well as statues, preserved trees, fresh water fountains, sculptures, flags you name it this temple had it. It really felt like a very spiritual place though and had a real historic feel to it. We found one of the paths to start the trek to station 5 but after a few km decided to go back and make use of the hot baths at the Ryokan.

A short bus ride back and we returned to Inn Fujitomita, we enjoyed the healing properties of the spring, managed to rest our feet and sat for our 2nd evening meal here. This was even better than the first night, again the photos prove our point. Seriously the best variety and flavour of food so far in Japan, and with such a beautiful setting it really was idealic. We were set up for a good night’s sleep after a long day of walking and decided on our route to Takayama for the following day.

We loved our stay at Inn Fujitomita and most definitely recommend it if you ever get the chance to come to the area.

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