As I write, our time in Kyoto has come to an end and we are sat in a 24 hour internet cafe in Hiroshima trying to do an all nighter before seeing the sights tomorrow. To cut a long story short, our train* from Kyoto was delayed and we couldn't get in to our hostel so instead we came to the most warm and accommodating place we could find and are going about completely abusing the selection of free hot drinks, slush puppies and ice cream on offer. I'm trying to stave off tiredness enough to find something interesting to tell you and Nat is behind me trying desperately to shake her brainfreeze.
To answer the most frequently asked travel questions right off the bat, it's 02:57 in the morning over here and we had two hot chicken fillets from a convenience store for our dinner. Sorry to spoil anyones illusion that we may be indulging in fine Japanese cuisine and sampling the best Sushi the planet has to offer but we are on a budget and you just can't beat fried chicken. The British cultural exchange is in full flow, just need to get leathered and moon someone now.
After spending our first two days out and about exploring Kyoto we decided to spend the Saturday night OUT out ifyouknowwhaddamean. Our friend from the hostel lent us his Lonely Planet and when we saw a free entry Reggae club called Rub A Dub we just couldn't resist. Buoyed by our bottle of cheap red wine we headed down the stairs and into the club only to be greeted by the sounds of Eve and Missy Elliot rattling out of the in house system. As funny as it was, my heart sank a little as I contemplated a night of commercial RnB and awkward dancing/shuffling about. However, shortly after we arrived a new DJ came on and proceeded to play a set of absolute bangers. Not only this but he was more than accommodating to mine and Nat's increasingly frequent requests, and when he played something on the Doctors Darling Riddim (see below) and I asked for him to follow it with Tanya Stephens' Its A Pity, he took about 20 seconds to drop it in.
A couple of obligatory raised finger wiggles later and we were well in the swing of things. The locals all seemed quite intrigued by us and were happy to have a little skank and share a drink at the bar, with one man (who was the spur for me starting this blog) going one further and blasting out his collection Harmonicas as well as singing and clapping along to all the tunes. He also tried to convince me to change over to a macrobiotic diet. Now I love a food chat but didn't think it was necessarily the most appropriate time to be talking brown rice and dropping meat out of my meals. The night continued in a similarly amusing vein and after swapping contact details with the DJ (who wants us to visit him in Lombok where he lives) we decided to make our move. Things are never that simple though and him dropping Shy Guy by Diana King encouraged us to stay a little longer.
When we finally did leave the club we were met on ground level by the shittest scuffly-pushy non fight you could imagine. As we stood and watched, clearly amused and a little inebriated, a local bar owner walked past, took an instant shine to us and without saying anything invited us back to a lock in at his bar, where we chatted, drank and shared music. When I say shared music, I mean I insisted they put on the Flower Travelling Band (as they were Japanese and a bit like Black Sabbath) and Nat put on the hits of the Beatles with her new best mate, who proceeded to sing along in perfect Engrish. The cultural exchange continued further when Nat put on Papa Roach and started headbanging. That was my last clear memory of what was a top night.
After getting lost on the way home we didn't arrive back until 9.30am so the day was spent sleeping, getting to know our hostel mates and Nat scrap booking whilst I started the blog your reading now. As well as Rika, who works there and the Buddhist (Monk?) Yuki, who we have mentioned, there was a great guy called Seb from Grenoble who we bonded with over a shared love of David Attenborough and who we should be meeting back up with later down the line.
I'm getting weary now and its getting a bit word heavy so here are some pictures of said hostel friends, the hostel itself and Yuki's impressive collection of Buddhist tokens.
I'm getting weary now and its getting a bit word heavy so here are some pictures of said hostel friends, the hostel itself and Yuki's impressive collection of Buddhist tokens.
* I shared my music from my last train journey so for anyone who could care in the slightest, my highlights this time were Cherry Moon by Lorn, Port Au Prince by Deadbeat and the entire Making Faces backcatalogue (All 3 recorded tracks of them).
loving the train soundtracks xxxx
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