11-18 October, Japan

Kyoto maiko (young geisha in training) getting a lift on a rickshaw

We left the heat and bustle of Hong Kong to arrive in the peace and cleanliness that is Japan. We spent our first two days in Yokohama, Japan's second largest city just south of Tokyo. For a visitor it is hard to work out where Tokyo ends and Yokohama starts. These are large cities that are merging into each other. We took the train and underground from the airport and were particularly pleased to make our way to our hotel in Yokohama without getting lost! Train and underground stations in Japan can be incredibly confusing, especially when there are multiple entrances and exits and only Japanese symbols that provide information!

Leo, Yoshiko and Mette

While in Yokohama we met with Yoshiko and baby Leo. We spent the day together sightseeing and took the Sea Bass around Yokohama harbour. "Sea Bass" is a great example of how Japanese spell English words the way they are pronounced by Japanese. The intended name for the boat is Sea Bus - we understood what they meant. Japanese has fewer sounds than any other language and therefore it is more difficult for native Japanese speakers to pronounce English words. Consequently, we ordered "pulling" in a restaurant in Kyoto and were pleasantly surprised when we were served ice cream and something a bit like creme brulee. Both "d" and "r" seem to be pronounced "l" here, hence the number of Japanese who say "solly".

Window cleaners in Tokyo are never short of work as long as they have no fear of heights. Taken from the 45th floor of the Tokyo Government Building

Japanese peoples' command of English is by far superior to our command of Japanese. So far we have managed to learn 3 new phrases: Domo arigato which is thank you, koin randorii which is laundrette (oh yes, we are frequenting our favorite locale even here in Japan) and gochiso-sama deshita which means it was a real feast, we say that as a thank you for a good meal.

Waiting for the bullet train at Shin-Yokohama station

After enjoying a day sampling the bright lights and sky scrapers in Yokohama we made our way to Kyoto on the bullet train. Kyoto is possibly the most beautiful city we have visited on this trip. Kyoto was the home of the imperial family from 794 to 1868 and for a long time the nation's ancient capital when under Shogun rule, and it has been the centre of both religion and wealth creation. There are 17 world heritage sites in Kyoto and if you are interested in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines it is the place to visit. By the time we left Kyoto we invented a new phrase which we call "templing", it's like sightseeing but involves specifically viewing temples and shrines in large numbers and at speed. Templing in Kyoto was fantastic fun, and completely different from templing in Angkor Wat. But we are now officially "templed out"!

View of Kyoto from one of the many temples

Kyoto house and Kyoto style combined front garden and garage

We stayed in traditional Ryokans and enjoyed the experience of minimalist living. When changing into yukatas we discovered the Japanese have yet to sew a yukata big enough for Stephen. We slept on floors covered with bamboo matting, which are soft and warm to walk and beautifully made with decorative fabric edgings. One of the striking things about Japan is the importance of making everything aesthetically pleasing. This also means that there are endless beautiful items that can be bought at a (high) price. Even as a Norwegian I can confirm that Japan is mostly expensive although it is possible to find inexpensive restaurants and shops outside of tourist areas.

Enjoying a cuppa in our yukatas at the Ryokan

Plastic food displays in restaurants help locals and tourists alike choose what to eat

Japanese rituals are many and elaborate, but ignorant westerners like us blundered through, I am sure we offended countless people by wearing slippers when we shouldn't have. But, what can you do when you have been wearing the same socks for six months and which now have many holes in them! In the Ryokans that we stayed in there were public baths which are popular among the Japanese. We were planning on using them, but chickened out when we contemplated the many options for losing face and even embarassing our fellow bathers. That is one experience to savour when we return.

Mette observing one of the local rituals cleansing her hands in holy water before entering a temple

On our last night in Kyoto we enjoyed some fantastic suki yaki at a restaurant where we had our own private dining room and lady in kimono who cooked for us at our table. Suki yaki is high quality thin slices of beef, tofu and vegetables cooked in a thick saki broth and then dipped in raw egg. It was truly memorable and puts leathery British beef to shame.

View through the temple door

The Golden Temple, Kinkakuji, one of the 17 world heritage sites in Kyoto

Monk on the run

Our last few days have been spent in Tokyo, meeting Naomi and enjoying a Japanese breakfast together, and one last bit of "templing" at the Imperial Palace before jumping on a plane homeward bound. Our visit to Japan has been quite special and we realise we have only scratched the surface of this fascinating country. We would like to return, but with bikes. It's good to plan for the future and now we have the destination for our next big bicycling adventure.

Naomi and Mette enjoying japanese breakfast

For those of you who have been following this blog, this is the end of our tale, it has been a very special trip for both of us. Sayonara for now, normal life beckons, we are both now really looking forward to a nice cup of English tea.

Stephen and samurai Colonel Sanders say sayonara!

Shopping in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Island by night, at Victoria Harbour

After spending 3 weeks in South East Asia we made our way to the commercial metropolis that is Hong Kong. This trip has taught us that every city has its own identity and Hong Kong was no exception from that rule. Hong Kong is an interesting mix of Chinese and English colonial. Street names like Nathan Road and Argyle Street abound, alongside more traditional Chinese street names. It seems that the the leading types of trading in Hong Kong are investment banking, tailoring and the "copy" watch business. On every street corner Indian sales men would offer tailored suits and copy Rolex watches. It appears that a copy Rolex is eminently superior to a fake Rolex....

Chinese junk on Victoria Harbour

We spent our 3 days in Hong Kong combining sightseeing with shopping or was it the other way around? Shopping is tax free, which helped make each Hong Kong dollar go that little bit further. Kowloon has a definite buzz about it, hectic and busy, but also very civilised and modern. Hong Kong is short on space and packed with people, it is very densely populated bringing new meaning to the term 'high rise', as virtually every building we saw had at least thirty floors. We wonder whether the owners of Hong Kong penthouse apartments must suffer altitude sickness.

The director's cut on 'The Avenue of Stars', which is Hong Kong's answer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

As we near the end of our trip our book of flight tickets is much thinner. When we started the trip we had a book of tickets that was as thick as a 'War and Peace', it is now reduced to just a short story, with only one flight remaining from Japan to Heathrow.

Cycling in Indochina

Our fellow cyclists

We have reached Saigon after 10 days of cycling and driving across Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Our route has taken us from Bangkok and south east through the Thai countryside, across to Cambodia via Siem Reap and Phnom Penh and finally through the Mekong delta in Vietnam to culminate in Saigon.

It has been very hot and also very wet when we have been drenched by the monsoon rains. We thought we experienced alot of rain when we got caught in a 12 hour, 7" deluge in Kansas, but it was nothing in comparison to the walls of rain that fall here during the monsoon. My shoes have turned into mini swimming pools on some occasions.

Thai farming lady planting tapioca

This has been an eye opening experience. We spent the first 3 days of the trip cycling on the outskirts of a national park in Thailand. It was a peaceful place with small country roads meandering through rice paddies and tapioca fields, we were impressed by the vibrant green of the rice fields. We spent some time with farmers who were working on a tapioca field and learnt that these are people who survive on less than US$1 per day. Obviously it is cheaper to live in Thailand than in a western country, but $1 per day is only just enough for basic shelter and some food. We were positively surprised at the high standard of the roads in Thailand, in many cases they were better than roads that we cycled on in America.

On day 5 we crossed the border and went from relative affluence in Thailand to painful poverty in Cambodia. Our luggage was placed on handcarts that were pulled across the border by wiry Cambodian men half our size. The border crossing was a bustling place full of traders from Cambodia handcarting their goods to the local market on the Thai side to sell at higher prices. Bizarrely there are several high rise luxury hotels and casinos just across the border in Cambodia. It is illegal to gamble in Thailand while in Cambodia there is no such law and consequently the Cambodians can bank the money of wealthy Thai gamblers. There are unfortunately no signs that any of the earnings from the slot machines benefit the greater good in the local area.

The dusty, pot holed road from the Thai border to Siem Reap

Cambodian style petrol station. Fizzy drink bottles are filled with petrol and sold to moped owners

Infrastructure in Cambodia is pitiful. We drove on a potholed road from the border to Siem Reap. Our guide's postive spin was that it was a free massage, it certainly was a bone shaking three hours on the bus as we weaved our way around potholes, bikes, mopeds, scrap metal trucks and pickups so heavily laden with people we were surprised they were able to move forwards at all. There seems to be a rule in Cambodia not for maximum number of passengers in a vehicle, but rather for minimum number of passengers.

In front of magnificent Agnkor Wat

The temples dotted around Siem Reap are Cambodia's biggest tourist attraction. The main temple complex is Angkor Wat although there are hundreds of temples in the area, and new complexes are still being discovered. We spent two days in Siem Reap visiting the magnificent Khmer temples. We were expecting amazing architectural wonders, but nothing could perpare us for the sheer size and faded grandeur of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the Terrace of Elephants. It is incredible to think that nearly 1000 years ago Cambodia was a wealthy nation with more power than any of its neighbours apart from China. Today its population lives largely in poverty hardly able to eek a living from the land.

At the temple in the jungle where a strangler fig is growing amongst the ruins

Cycling through the Victory Gate

Nun lighting incense at Buddah statue

At Banteay Srei, the pink temple

How many smiling Buddah faces can you see? Look for Giovanna's orange trousers to get a sense of scale

Climbing the stairway to heaven. It was more difficult to get back down again

Stephen providing a temporary head for one of the damaged sculptures

Cambodia's recent history is shockingly sad. Altough Pol Pot stood down from power in 1979 fighting continued until his death in 1998. The number of people who died during the Khmer Rouge years (1975-79) is disputed and range from 1 million to 3 million. Regardless, it meant that Cambodia's population reduced in numbers. People were killed or starved to death because food was used to trade for weapons and in 1979 the rice was never planted because Vietnam invaded the country. Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, was emptied during the reign of Pol Pot and many of its citizens were killed at the Killing Fields. When people started returning to the city in 1979 and 1980 there were far more houses than people. We heard stories of how people had wandered the streets of Phnom Penh looking at the houses and moving into the one that took their fancy. It is hard to ignore the atrocities that Cambodians have suffered. Walking amongst the crowds on Phonm Penh's streets it is almost incomprehensible to think that those were people who survived Pol Pot's regime and will have experienced the dire consequences of Pol Pot's butchering of the country. There are still many land mines that have yet to be cleared from the fields along the Thai border in particular. Estimates suggest that there are still around 15 million land mines hidden in Cambodia's soil.

Three men on a moped in Phnom Penh

Cambodia's hard working sales men and women selling post cards for US$1

Cambodia is a beautiful country that is working very hard at making the most from very humble resources. We were impressed by its people's resillience and ability to put the past behind them and focus on how best to develop the country. Cambodia is dealing with its violent past and the memorial at the Killing Field outside Phnom Penh and the genocide museum are both examples. Sadly, Cambodian school children are not taken to these monuments and we wonder how Cambodian educators justify their choice to avoid what was a pivotal part of the country's recent history. Today many of ex-Khmer Rouge members are politically active in parties such as the Cambodian People's Party and very few of the "brothers" have been brought to justice. Pol Pot was "Brother number 1" and while we were in Thailand "Brother number 2" was arrested.

Temple at sunset

We were not on our own. Cambodia is doing a great job of pulling in the tourists to Siem Reap

Next stop on our trip was Vietnam. Even at the border crossing we could tell that we were entering into a more affluent society. The Cambodian border officials were housed in temporary metal structures that had walls and a roof, but no floors. Money seemed to change hands and we can only assume that by slipping the passport officer a few dollars entry or exit was guaranteed. We had our papers in order and passed through without the need to pay. We walked across to the Vietnamese passport control housed in sturdy brick buildings and had to go through a security check which involved x-raying our luggage. Our laptop was not put through the x-ray machine and was after a cursory check handed over to Stephen with reverence.

Lyta and Oscar waiting for the ducks to cross the road, near the border to Vietnam

The contrast to Cambodia couldn't have been more stark. Vietnam has 85 million people and in Cambodia there are only 14 million. The population density around the Mekong is incredible, we seemed to be in a never ending city. It is also noticable that Vietnamese are larger and healthier looking than Cambodians, we have even seen some overweight Vietnamese. We cannot remember seeing any Cambodians that looked like they had too much to eat.

Vietnamese schools children waving to us

Vietnamese farmers drying rice along the road

Vietnamese people have been unfailingly friendly. We have had endless groups of children and adults waving to us as we have cycled through towns and villages. We have visited floating markets on the Mekong, eaten fruit so fresh and sweet it makes us realise that what we get in the supermarkets in the UK are nothing like eating fruit where it is grown. We have seen small cottage businesses weaving mats for bedding, popping rice and popping corn to make them into sweet snacks. We have also seen the art of making rice paper used for wrapping spring rolls and the brewing of Mekong whiskey which is flavoured with cobra snake, scorpion and dead rooster. An acquired taste.

Mekong whiskey with Cobra and Scorpion. We didn't buy any in case it would get confiscated by customs at Heathrow

Enjoying a delicious Vietnamese meal at our home stay at an island in the Mekong delta

Saigon is a city which seems to operate on full volume day and night. There are 8 million people who live here and 4 million motorbikes. Traffic lights are considered street decoration and a red light is only a suggestion. There is a real art to crossing the street here. There is an interesting mix of communism and capitalism here. There are crumbling communist concrete eyesores with the Vietnamese red flag with a single gold star flying atop, while there are thousands of street traders selling everything from fake Rolexs to food and beautiful silk clothing.

Crazy traffic on the streets of Saigon

The floating market on the mekong. Traders advertise their wares by hanging a sample high up on a mast. We saw boats with sweet potatoes and pineapples

Vietnam is also a war scarred country. It has been interesting to learn about the Vietnam war from the perspective of the Vietnamese. Perhaps most telling is that the war is referred to as the American War. There are museums with artifacts from the war and also the tunnels built by the Viet Cong were interesting to visit. Although Stephen had wished he was not 6'4" as he lowered himself through one of the tiny entrances to the tunnel network. Even today there are still snakes and scorpions in the tunnels and it is quite an eerie experience crawling on your hands and knees through the dark, hot and suffocating tunnels where the Viet Cong would live for several months at a time.

Stephen going underground Viet Cong style

We have enjoyed our trip through South East Asia. It has been excellent cycling and also fun to be with a great group of people with whom we share our interest in cycling and travelling.