Carbon Clogs

New And Improved

2010-08-14T16:15:00.001+01:00

For those of you whose lives are empty since the ending of our blog.....good news, I have started another one. If you want to know what little we've done since we're back feel free to visit......www.returnoftherejchrts.blogspot.com

The End

2010-07-10T15:31:00.009+01:00

375 days after setting off and Air Canada flight 848 brings us back to Heathrow where it all started on 3rd July 2009.

The raw numbers show two complete circumnavigations of the globe on 169 flights. The first circuit involved flying 152,588 km, while the second trip was 88,060 km in 3.5 months. Total in-flight carbon is therefore in excess of 240,000 km. These were largely incident-free with just two aborted landings (one early on in Erbil and another on the short flight from Samoa to Tonga) and a near miss avoiding a bird-strike out of Vancouver on our commuter flight to Victoria.

In addition, we sailed 4,150 km on a cruise ship and drove rental cars over 38,200 km and I managed a run about every three days, running a total of 1,300 km.

Our trip took us to 38 (or was it 39?) countries and territories, so we covered 19% of the UN list of the world’s countries in a year. We had set out with the aims of spending more time in the places we love (South Africa), revisiting places we had not been to for some time (Canada, Australia, China) or only briefly visited (Japan) while also setting out on a discovery of the new (New Zealand and the Pacific islands). On the whole our travels reinforced previous experiences.

This being our first trip of this magnitude, we certainly learned a few things on the way, which will be useful for doing it again. And in no particular order here is Peter’s 8-point guide to travelling the world:

Packing & planning

For me, take less clothes! - no matter what the airline luggage allowance says, being weighed down with three suitcases on a Japanese metro train in the rush hour is no fun.
Organisation and planning really are good traits, allowing more time on the road to enjoy the experiences rather than having to be thinking about the next destination.
Some places really just are not worth bothering with - I have this idealistic world view that places will not really turn out that bad but the illness and dirt of Madagascar and the bureaucracy of Russia on this trip were tiresome and will possibly help in Sarah reigning me in from booking a trip to Tajikistan for our 2011 wedding anniversary.
It has been tremendous having a support network back home with Sarah’s sister only an e-mail away when we desperately need to transfer funds to pay for our Tanzanian safari as their credit card machine was not working. And for dealing with a year’s worth of mundane post and bank statements - I am sure despite protestations to the contrary she has thoroughly enjoyed the free snapshot into our lives! And the feeling of popularity due to the volume of our post received on a daily basis.
The thought of spending a year with the same person might put people off contemplating a trip of this nature. We have had periods of not listening to each other, being ill and tired and grumpy with each other as well as disagreements over where we are going, but on the whole we have had a great time together. The trip has reinforced what we enjoy about each other’s company and has provided many shared experiences we can treasure and that are already oft-repeated.

Airlines & money

Low cost airlines are not low price and cause no end of hassles (particularly if they are called Virgin Blue) when things go wrong. You are plum out of luck if you expect good service and low cost and the difference to the front end of full-service airlines is simply unbearable. Also, don’t believe independent ratings of airlines - we booked several flights on Korea’s Asiana based on their top rating by Skytrax only to find their beds extremely uncomfortable and their service indifferent.
When you visit so many countries and with a weak domestic economy, currency hedging is a good skill to have and playing the currency markets can be of great benefit. We were in Oz when the pound was its weakest against the Aussie dollar and acquiring foreign exchange at times when the pound was stronger could have helped us out financially.
We have dipped rather than plunged into the various cultures on our route. This was our intended strategy when we set off and it worked well. However, as we were preparing to leave Canada we saw a map of the vastness of this country and this brought home to us how much longer we could have spent in each place. Nevertheless, our experiences have given us definite ideas on where we would like to spend more time in the future.

Emotionally we have thoroughly enjoyed the enriching experience and the wonderful opportunity to spend extended periods in so many great places around the world. On reflection the world seems quite small despite the big numbers and only Japan stands out as truly culturally different to anywhere else on the planet. China may well be the future but it’s a future very similar to the present based on the pursuit of materialist consumerism.

We finish the trip healthier (maybe trimmer), culturally wiser and emotionally wealthier, which leaves us ready to do it all again - if anyone wants to pay us to disappear for a while.

Sarah has produced her own thoughts on the year of travel, shorter than mine of course………"Next time I’m doing it without Mr Dipstick"…..charming.

Enough of the emotional diatribe from me. We plan to keep the blog going on our future (less adventurous) travels, so keep an eye out for possibly a new web address but the same mad people at the keyboard.

Back to Civilisation?

2010-07-10T00:37:00.006+01:00

Welcome back to Canada - after a week in Cuba we are briefly back in Canada. Now in Toronto, the largest city and the one with the most American feel. A bit of culture shock on our arrival:

We did our usual "please stamp here" routine at immigration - this was simply ignored
We walked down to baggage claim and found trolleys required payment - the first such airport in Canada. Do they think this is Oz or the USA?
The bus driver made announcements of various stops after getting stuck in expressway traffic for an hour - these were completely intelligible in this English (?) speaking country
We wanted to book a last night treat at the Hilton with views of Lake Ontario. We checked in to a room on the fifth floor with views of the nearest intersection and the construction site next door despite lots of e-mail correspondence prior to the arrival about high floors. Luckily things improved and we got the room changed to 31F and use of the Executive lounge on 32F with some good views both of the lake and the CBD.

Cuban Olympics?

2010-07-10T00:35:00.004+01:00

Yes, Havana has an Olympic Stadium. It is under 20 years old, built for the 1991 Pan American Games and with an eye to bidding for the 2012 Olympics. Then the world caved in, Soviet subsidies dried up and now, like so much in Cuba, it stands rotting and decaying.

The Cubanologist’s View - 33 deg and 82% humidity; GMT-4

2010-07-10T00:17:00.006+01:00

In 1991 I submitted my thesis on the Cuban trade economy at a time of tumultuous world events with the ending of the Cold War, which saw Cuba tailspin into recession as it lost its beneficial sugar-for-oil swap agreement with its former benefactor, the USSR. This was probably not the best year in which to make prognostications on the future direction the Cuban economy might take but that is the plight of the student with deadlines to meet.

19 years on and the same slogans - Long Live the Revolution and Socialism or Death - are still knocking around along with Fidel’s exhortations to be altruistic and think of the collective good above individual gratification. These are beginning to sound hollow in the dual economy created through Cuba’s pursuit of hard currency through tourism joint ventures.

In reality, the state economy is defunct and everyone tries to participate in the secondary economy to survive. There are even separate currencies to serve the national economy and the tourist economy; for those with convertible tourist pesos (CUCs) everything is available at a price. The state fails to provide adequate food and transportation, so access to the CUC as a form of payment is essential. This has created a parallel capitalist economy, or the opportunity to cheat and rip off at every turn. In practice, this means:

The nationalised car rental company employees supply vehicles with 200 km less of fuel than a full tank but make renters pay the full tank and pocket the difference
There are fees for every service like looking after luggage for 2 hours - cost 1 euro. Cuba is not looking such a bargain anymore
The petrol pump attendant who assumes that if he fills the tank he will get the balance of any notes you hand over as a tip, even if this tip is close to 1 euro. And, of course, there is no service like in South Africa of washing the windows for that assumed tip. In fact, service remains largely an alien concept in this pseudo-system. Years of being brought up in surly socialist businesses and the Spanish heritage of grumpy non-service are hard to eradicate in this new parallel economy
The menu that advertises soft drinks included and when the bill turns up there is a separate charge for drinks
The bar we frequented for dinners in Havana that on our third visit decides to impose a random 20% service charge.

Then there is the poor service and the languorous laziness and slow pace:

The maids who do not knock in the morning but simply burst in, assuming it must be time to clean the room
The horrific road accident stats - while getting our undercarriage fixed (there is a government-owned repair shop in every settlement) I looked at the stats for the Trinidad area and only three coach drivers had been accident-free over five years.

Within minutes of the arrival, the car hire agent said to us that he hoped this is not our only trip to Cuba and that we would soon be returning. I thought this a strange comment at the time but as the days wore on I began to realise that there is a desperate need for return visitors to fill the ever expanding concrete blocks being knocked up along all of Cuba’s coastline and left in varying states of decay within months of completion. Don’t get me wrong - the sordid decay of La Habana Vieja, largely uncorrupted by modern influences, is very different to the average Caribbean capital with daily cruise ship arrivals and shops selling tat - and, despite the sewage on the streets, has a faded grandeur that is both photogenic and historic.

Over the last two decades much has been stagnant, but there has also been significant change - there is no way I would have predicted all those years ago that i) I would return or ii) there would be Coca-Cola available, or Nestle ice cream (made locally in another joint venture), or heavy traffic on the once-deserted streets, or luxury western cars, like Audi and Mercedes taxis. Also now absent are the fur-coated Russian technocrats and Havana has a much more cosmopolitan face, with an even an ambassadorial presence of the old enemy of South Africa (having been at war with the South Africans in Angola last time I was here) and many Chinese businessmen.

The revolution seems to have succeeded in creating the very system that it was intended to overthrow - capitalism with huge income disparities between those who can fleece tourists for the valued CUC and the destitute farmers without mechanisation - while maintaining an authoritarian bureaucracy that permits no dissent and a rigid, centrally planned, structurally inefficient command economy that fails to deliver.

After a week I struggle to see why anyone would chose a beach holiday here over Thailand or anywhere in Asia. This week has reinforced our decision not to spend much time in Latin America.

Sarah’s Swansong

2010-07-10T00:16:00.004+01:00

Where to spend the last week of our trip was a painful question…honestly it was. We had planned to travel through Canada and wanted to finish on a somewhat different and more relaxing note to prepare for our return to the Mother Country/Nanny State.

Having discounted much of the Caribbean on cost I suggested Cuba for the culture, grandeur and politics of Havana combined with a side trip to the quiet mountains and a few days on the beach in Varadero. Peter had been to Cuba before (no surprises not for holiday but for a MPhil dissertation) and according to him he was close to death with food poisoning/cholera, but agreed it was a long time ago and for potential value for money it’d be worth a look.

I’m not sure when we realised it wasn’t such a bright idea:

Waiting for over an hour for our luggage at Havana airport (good practice for Heathrow)
Collecting a heap of junk Chinese rental car (no worse than Europcar Tasmania)
Constant requests for us to buy cigars, embroidery and hats (a bit like China without the fake luxury labels)
The 14 km off-roading detour thanks to Peter directing us in aforementioned heap to get to our accommodation in the sierra, loosening the undercarriage and getting a slow puncture (reminiscent of driving a Merc up the Katberg mountains in South Africa, probably with less screaming at every jolt from Peter this time)
The quiet mountain hotel besieged by an aged east German cultural tour group singing O Sole Mio after 11 at night (probably the same in every tour group hotel frequented by Germans that we don’t normally use on our travels)
Turning up to the Mercure Hotel in Varadero only to find they’d lost our reservation and had since become an all inclusive resort an doubled the price (this is truly unique).

There were of course positives - the historic hotel in Havana had also lost our booking but gave us a fabulous corner room with large windows facing the historic sights and the sea. We were treated as VIPs as we had booked via our Accor Club card, which got us into the amazing rooftop restaurant for the same rubbish breakfast as the plebs on the ground floor. This section of the trip also gave us the opportunity to look more favourably upon our return to the UK, it certainly would be cheaper than extortionate (literally) Cuba.

What I don’t really understand if the Revolution is continuing here why nothing has changed in over 50 years? I suspect there is going to be more revolution in Casa de Team Rejchrt over the next few weeks while we settle down, neither of us have the beards or cult status of Fidel or Che, but I’m starting making up revolutionary slogans now.

Please Stamp Here

2010-07-02T00:59:00.004+01:00

As we hit the one-year anniversary of the trip and leave Canada (to return in a week's time) we have almost finished with the "please can you stamp on a used page" routine to all immigration officials we encounter.

After some unnecessarily flamboyant stamping in the Pacific islands at the turn of the year we thought we might run out of space in our first passports, hence the requests to officialdom. Cuba issues tourist cards, which are stamped and collected on departure, and we have only one more entry stamp to go - back into Toronto. At the moment I have seven pages left in the 48-page version of the passport and Sarah has six.

And it has proved an interesting game to see just how many stamps we can accumulate on a single page.

Big Breakfast

2010-07-01T19:07:00.010+01:00

Our last meal in Canada before we hit Cuba (expect less blogs in the next week) and I was desperate for a traditional big brekkie, but couldn't face having my pancakes sat next to my easy over eggs.

Sarah tried the lighter meal but failed spectacularly with two types of potato!

Happy Canada Day

2010-07-01T18:37:00.004+01:00

We're in Edmonton celebrating 143 years of independence (from you know who) and the Queen has joined us in Canada, although she is getting more press coverage and isn't spending the equivalent of four whole days driving in a rented Toyota Corolla.

Talking of cars you may have read an earlier comment from Peter about registration plates. What started off as a mild amusement to see how far some people travelled to tourist sites in Canada ended up in an "Eye Spy" tick off sheet trying to get as many different US state registered cars. By the last day in Jasper we would cruise along our favourite street where most of the foreign cars rested up for coffee and muffins. We'd even walk the extra distance if we saw a plate we didn't recognise. So this is it, a year of travelling, broadening our horizons and we're plate spotters!

Plenty of Stodge Here

2010-07-01T04:15:00.004+01:00

For our last night in western Canada we went for a typically Canadian meal in a restaurant that reflects Canada's enthusiasm for immigration. Barb and Ernie set up their resto here 40 years ago, having left Germany penniless. The German beerhall interior belies the truckstop exterior, but the fare was stoutly German with lots of meat.

Running Wild

2010-06-30T16:00:00.003+01:00

The downside of all this fantastic wildlife in Canada is the impact it has on my running. I finally decided to brave the open trails and head out into the wilderness rather than stick to suburbia.

Within minutes I was scanning the trees waiting for a bear family to pounce, looking over my shoulder for the calving elks doubtless about to charge me, not to mention moose and rabid beaver. The squeak of the squirrels in their dens set my nerves ajangle.

After 12k I returned a nervous wreck, not sure if my lack of puff was altitude induced (Jasper is 1050m amsl) or simply from the many frights I had along the way.

At the dinner elk viewing site I summoned up my courage and ended up quite close to the elk. It seemed more interested in food, particularly dandelion heads, and what was in the woods behind than in me!

Bear Hunting No. 6

2010-06-30T14:34:00.004+01:00

We drove up towards the Marmot Basin ski centre in Jasper today, no-one else on the road except for one bear crossing. He was so fast by the time we'd retrieved the camera and turned it on, all that remained was a furry bottom retreating into the woods. We weren't disappointed, we've accepted our camera issues and were pleased to see a bear so close at hand. We drove on and 50 metres later another bear appeared walking alongside the crash barrier; we were no more than 10 metres apart. He ignored us and we held our breath while I tried to snap away and not be eaten.

In the afternoon a large volume of cars stopped by the roadside signalling elk and calves, something we'd yet to see. There are more human injuries due to elks than bears and there are warnings around the trails to keep away from them if they have calves. Safety in numbers...there were 50 of us standing on Highway 16 watching them.

Feeling pretty chuffed with our day of animal sightseeing we treated ourselves to a picnic burger dinner (Team Rejchrt knows how to live) out near Maligne Canyon. We were going to use the local toilets but an elk beat us to it.

Bear Hunting No. 5

2010-06-28T03:21:00.004+01:00

We have had a lack of bear spotting opportunities recently, but as the main camera is broken (did anyone notice how Peter's earlier blog managed to apportion no blame for the breakage?) we are relying on a small old digital. These shots of mother bear plus three cubs are the best we can do.

Luckily the deer and caribou we spotted later in the day obliged by standing closer to the camera.

Considerate Canadians

2010-06-27T04:13:00.007+01:00

As is in many other respects the Canadians have been very thoughtful along the Icefields Parkway linking Banff and Jasper. Yes, you do have to display a national parks pass but you do get the drive-up glacier included. Oz was unusual for its drive-in bottle shops but who has ever heard of the drive-in glacier? And they wonder why the glaciers are receding.

Even my mother, who was rapturous in her praise of Antarctican glaciers, cannot claim to have done the drive-in version.

Our Rockies Journey Continues

2010-06-27T04:04:00.005+01:00

Day 358 of the trip and our Canon camera has decided to give up - having started to play up a month ago in Japan it now has a shutter that does not work so we are on back-up cameras with weak batteries. Perhaps the first sign that we should be thinking of coming home? The stunning scenery in the Alberta Rockies continues unabated and irrespective of camera functioning.

Like The Caribbean?

2010-06-25T03:48:00.004+01:00

A passing comment overhead by an American group at Lake Louise, noting the colours of the lake are reminiscent of the Caribbean! Huh, they clearly did not read the signboards about the lake's glacial and mineral contents.

Bear Hunting No. 4

2010-06-25T03:43:00.004+01:00

A day in the Rockies without a bear sighting. How annoying, another squirrel was chased down to have its photo taken.

This grainy photo is a zoomed up speed shot of a muskrat we had mistaken for a fish in Johnson Lake, Banff.

We can also provide you with a deer (Peter was convinced it was an elk) shot if you're really desperate. They roam Banff Avenue like they own the place.

Cultural Sensitivity

2010-06-25T03:07:00.004+01:00

Throughout the trip and wherever we have travelled we have made friends with the locals and forged strong cultural bonds, enriching people's lives as we go. Or something like that.

Sarah has taken bonding with the natives to a higher level. Our waitron in Lake Louise enquired after the FIFA scores on the final day of England's group matches. Sarah noted that we had sneaked through and that "your lot" were also lucky to qualify referring to the last minute winner for the USA. I cringed in my chair, but Johnnie seemed to manage to laugh it off, obviously keen to earn his "customary for Canada 15-20% tip" despite the deep national insult that had just been hurled at him.

What will she do next? Call them moosie or something.

Coffee Culture North American Style

2010-06-24T16:58:00.004+01:00

Time for a rant about coffee. These pictures summarise all that is wrong with coffee in North America. For once my pet hate (the ubiquitous plastic stirrer) is not provided, but there appear to be no tea spoons in all of North America so a soup spoon appears to stir the coffee. The cappuccino turns up with a lovely frothy head, just the way it should be with a shot of espresso underneath. The head of course hides the fact that the coffee is the usual over-roasted North American bean with a bitter after-taste. All in all not the best coffee of the trip but not the worst.

Bear Hunting No. 3

2010-06-24T16:48:00.001+01:00

Camera battery...check.

Bear...check.

Prepared to get out of car...check.

Unfortunately didn't get out of car fast enough for our third bear sighting in as many days.

In recompense a picture of a golden-mantled ground squirrel.

Canadian Rockies

2010-06-24T16:16:00.009+01:00

We had glorious weather in British Columbia with temperatures in the high 20s for our visit to Whistler Mountain. Now in the Alberta Rockies the weather seems far more mercurial with a mix of cloud, rain showers and sun, although with uninterrupted and stunning views of glaciers, peaks, lakes and meadows. So far on all of our walks we have stayed rain (and bear) free - I'm sure this will change in the near future. There are a lot of bears out there and lots of clouds.

Bear Hunting No. 2

2010-06-23T00:56:00.002+01:00

Camera battery......check

Bear......check

Prepared to get out of the car to get a closer shot........nope

And who taught this bear how to cross the rail tracks?

Dressing

2010-06-23T00:55:00.003+01:00

He may have a distinction for his MBA but he can't get a hoodie on the right way round.

A Different View

2010-06-20T03:11:00.003+01:00

With views like this, I managed to cope not going up a skyscraper today. Still a lot of snow about at 2000 metres amsl in mid-June.

Bear Hunting

2010-06-19T23:15:00.006+01:00

Despite the heavy promotion of Canadian wildlife I was unusually sceptical that we would see anything in the National Parks. Day 1 in Whistler on the way up our first mountain we spotted two bears....our gondola glass was so scratched by skis that we could only get a blurred bottom before they disappeared into the trees.

At the top of Blackcomb Mountain Peter spotted a marmot and chipmunk and had everyone on the observation deck hanging over the edge to get a look.

On the way down we saw a mother bear and two cubs as well as a large male bear....no camera battery. Driving back to our log cabin we saw a large silver fox...still no camera battery.

The next day up the mountains with fully charged batteries and spare camera.....no bears.

Taking to the Air Again

2010-06-14T21:58:00.002+01:00

After a week on a ship having got used to premium American service, we find ourselves again using airlines.

We arrive at Sea-Tac airport for our Air Canada commuter flight only to find the check-in handled by United Airlines. This is the airline that used the marketing strapline “Fly the Friendly Skies” from 1965 to 1996; nothing could be further from the truth as we were assailed with a barrage of unfriendly rules about checking in some of our luggage all the way to Victoria and some just to Vancouver to store for a couple days.

Then we get to the Red Carpet Club, the supposed haven from cattle class. Having settled down with a cappuccino and club soda and the extra bonus service (yoghurt), Sarah decided it might be nice to have some reading material. Unable to find the newspapers, she approaches the front desk only to be told by the face of United that yes, papers are indeed available. “Yes, you can go buy one in the shop upstairs” (what do Asian customers make of this?!).

Things can only improve in Canada?

Concrete (and Glass) in Seattle

2010-06-14T04:31:00.004+01:00

Seattle has yet more concrete and glass structures for me to photograph, including the Seattle Public Library (containing 1.5million books) and the Rainier Tower, designed by the same architect as the former World Trade Center in New York.

End of the Cruise

2010-06-14T03:53:00.005+01:00

Back on terra firma after 2,400 nautical miles and I soon took the opportunity to get back to my old tricks of seeking out concrete. While Sarah said goodbye to family members I ascended the Smith Tower (42F, 159m and built in 1914 when it was the tallest skyscraper outside New York City).

While I was at the top I had a chance to see last week's holiday float away as the Norwegian Pearl set sail on its next Alaska voyage, already cleaned and ready for its new contingent of 2500 people. How fleeting are these memories.

Hair Today

2010-06-13T18:27:00.003+01:00

It’s not just Peter who feels the need to get a local haircut. Here Peter Kirk received a lot of mocking at the barber’s and we also had the opportunity to buy smoked fish under the counter (if you know what I mean).

Guest Blogging: The Rejchrts

2010-06-13T18:26:00.001+01:00

For those of you concerned as to whether a round the world trip has affected marital harmony I can assure you that for the Rejchrts nothing has changed!

…But The Scenery Soon Improves Again

2010-06-13T18:25:00.002+01:00

After the storm there is the return to the serenity of the Alaskan scenery.

And Then It Gets Rough

2010-06-13T18:23:00.003+01:00

I am not a natural sailor and my sea legs deserted me on the high seas as we headed back south towards the Lower 48 states. Wave height up to 9 metres, winds of over 61 mph, 8 deg and lashing rain with zero visibility. Not only did the boat rock and pitch it heightened my fears of the impending sinking. This is the downside to sailing in Alaska at anytime of the year.

Guest Blogging: Bedtime Buddies

2010-06-13T18:21:00.005+01:00

Our cabin boys/girls were exemplary. The rooms were always spotless and at night they provided a turn down service, removing the daytime bedcover and turning down the sheets in case we could not manage ourselves.

On three nights we were also treated to towel animals.

Firstly an elephant.

Then a dog, though we had to ask the cabin boy what it was as Pete thought it was a bear!

And a rabbit.

And a mouse.

Our most useful bedroom adornment was in an earlier hotel, a Tsunami warning card. It started off with advice to drop to the floor if there was an earthquake and then dash to high ground in case a tsunami followed. Mother being mother only partially read the first bit of advice, and assumed that in the event of a tsunami she had to lie on the floor!

Disorientated On Board - Where is the Front of the Boat?

2010-06-13T18:21:00.002+01:00

When you are in a windowless corridor in a giant ship it is easy to forget which direction you are facing. The cruise line has helpfully thought up a plan to ease the pain whereby the carpets have fishes facing the bow (front). Unfortunately this hasn’t helped my brother-in-law, who invariably sets off in the opposite direction to where we want to go. This has provided us endless amusement as we watch him disappear and reappear across our paths. He tells us it is the poor navigational guides on the floors that are at fault and not him.

Deck Games

2010-06-13T18:20:00.001+01:00

When it finally warmed up and I prised my sister and husband out of the hot tubs we could play the various deck games. Having slashed and sliced golf balls around their practice nets we took on the shuffleboard. Most of the family refused to read the rules and challenged their appropriateness. Rebecca could play and win with cup of tea in hand, Peter managed to knock over giant chess pieces punting his puck miles down the deck to the next games area as well as across the running track.

Guest Blogging: Being Welcomed Ashore

2010-06-13T18:18:00.010+01:00

Each time we departed the boat they had a different themed person at the end of the gangplank. Primarily to get you to have a photo taken for you to buy at great cost later. Team Rejchrt, Kirk and Luty are far to frugal for such extravagances, so we spent our time trying to take sneaky pics of the character of the day (please excuse the poor quality of the pics!)

Firstly in Juneau we had a bald eagle, which Peter and mother both thought was a duck!

Pete far preferred the leggy short wearing photographer girl, so as a good wife I managed a surreptitious photo of her too !

Next in Skagway was a bear. Our cabin was above the gangplank, so all we heard from 6am onward was "do you want a photo with blue bear?" "do you want to meet blue bear" and other blue bear related phrases! I was confused as to why the bear was deemed blue, until I realised that the other bear at the other gang plank was wearing a red shirt.

Poor bear was out there for a while, and to Pete's delight stripped down to remove some of her clothing.

In Ketchikan we had two, a lumberjack and a moose.

Finally in Victoria our room was again on the docking side. We were at first greeted by a town crier and a couple of people in period costume as we sailed in.

Then the forklift truck people who brought in the gangplanks and decorated the area with a period light fitting!

Then came the whale. Sarah, Pete and myself spent a happy hour watching the boat dock and the logistics of disembarkation. Whale and photographer appeared at the aft gangplank and started touting their wares. Soon they realised that everyone was getting off at the forward gangplank so they hot footed it there, only to be escorted back by a man in yellow!

We then sat and watched and listened to hours of "do you want to see my whale?" "come and meet my whale." Most people were fairly tired of enforced photos with people in costume, but everytime someone stopped we gave a little cheer for poor whale.

Glacier Viewing Style

2010-06-13T18:17:00.003+01:00

We all have our own approach to preparing for glacier watching. Some wear their gold strappy sandals and order gluhwein, others bring a buffet breakfast down to the balcony others just sit and watch.

Glacier Bay

2010-06-13T18:16:00.001+01:00

Those of you who know that Peter assuaged my thirst for knowledge of glaciers with a university text book on volcanoes will be surprised to hear that he has booked a trip to Alaska, which allegedly has 75% of the world’s glaciers. A fact denied by all my travel companions. My mother recently returned from Antarctica and is in a blasé mood, calling the Alaskan glaciers dirty and not as good carving as the Southern Ice Caps. If she mentions the zodiac trip again she may well be getting another one sooner rather than later.

Being Pursued

2010-06-13T18:14:00.001+01:00

It’s a strange feeling to be followed by the same cruise ship. We have now been followed to Auckland, Bay of Islands and Nouméa by the Diamond Princess. Spooky.

Taking Over The Town

2010-06-13T18:12:00.000+01:00

When cruise ships dock in ports in Alaska, theses monsters tend to overrun the ports they visit. Populations of less than 900 double with temporary staff to cope with the additional visitors. There is an undercurrent of resentment of the Indian and Chinese jewellers who open for the peak cruise season and then board up the shops and return to Florida or wherever for winter. What these cheap jewellers do offer is freebies and we had a team competition to collect as many charms and cheap necklaces as fast as we could. Fighting my brother-in-law across the street was a highlight of the trip for my mother.

Alaska - Nature Lovers’ Paradise?

2010-06-13T18:10:00.004+01:00

Alaska is supposed to be the great outdoors, even here on our first stop in Juneau I managed to find Sarah some good examples of concrete as a reminder of our Asian sojourn. And to make up for some of the nature (sea, trees, mountains, glaciers, whales, dolphins, sea lions, sea otters, Arctic terns and bald eagles) we had been enjoying over the first few days of the voyage.

This is of course atypical and the scenery and sunsets, when the weather obliges, have been stunning.

Old Dog, New Tricks

2010-06-13T18:08:00.003+01:00

There is a regularly flouted rule that my sister, who lives far away from home, does not buy my mother technological gifts that I then have to explain and maintain.

Rebecca caught me out again, this time buying a digital camera. Most of mum’s cameras stay in draws for years before films are developed. Mum has quickly got to grips with this camera and is keen to show off all her artwork. Rather like an ipod a digital camera can tell you a lot about the owner. Flicking through mum’s pictures we discover Harold, the man in charge of tidying up vegetables, an unnamed group of posh frock girls on their graduation ball and the odd traffic cone in nature shots.

Mother’s Guest Blog - My Impression of the US of A

2010-06-13T18:02:00.005+01:00

Well, it is rather like being on a movie set as a rather effete, non-comprehending extra! Everything seems larger than life - the scenery, people, transport, buildings and especially the enthusiasm. Nobody could accuse the North Americans of reticence or ‘hiding their light under a bushel’. The Champagne Art Auction on board ship is an example - hooting and hollering is expected, nay demanded, of the participants; Christies and Sotheby’s take note! This is surely the way to sell a Rembrandt or Picasso doodle.

We could also learn a lot from the openness and good manners of the average American. I have felt welcome in their country and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience, at times rather surreal but never dull.

Freestyling

2010-06-13T18:00:00.001+01:00

You may be wondering at the lack of fresh material on the blog over the last week. We have not been taken prisoner in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea but have been sailing the Inside Passage out of Seattle into Alaska. As this was our first cruise and we had picked a cheapie trip we were worried we would hate being with 2500 other people. So we thought we’d share the pain by inviting along my mother and sister and brother-in-law (helpfully also named Peter). This is a flexible cruise where there are not fixed meal times or rules about dress code or activities. My mother still brought 9 pairs of strappy sandals and a dress for each night, she was lucky the weather didn’t freeze up completely.

It is a strange feeling knowing you can’t get off and escape but can get chocolate brownies at all hours. The beds are award winning and after 4 days I found it hard to get out of in the morning, it was my little sanctuary. Having phone calls and abuse from my sister down the ship’s phone or the sighting of a whale made me get up.

Rejchrt Stalking

2010-06-05T06:29:00.005+01:00

Sarah's sister Rebecca again. Blogging from an iPhone so have no idea how to add pictures!

As the Rejchrts are currently in the sky somewhere between Japan and the USA I can hijack their blog again!

Our first reaction to their round the world announcement was to check where they were when we had time off. We managed to stalk them to Cape Town in October, mother managed a meet and greet at Heathrow. Now we have a two pronged attack and are all skulking in Seattle to await their arrival!

We arrived a week early and have been having a jolly time on a road trip round the Olympic Peninsular. We have managed a dodgy airport motel, a casino hotel full of people whose parents were probably cousins, a night in a Twilight themed room in Forks, two nights in a luxury waterfront suite and now our final pre-Rejchrt night in a rickety wodden farm cottage where Betty MacDonald wrote her books in the 1930s.

All this to kill time before our big family reunion.

Sarah and Peter have forewarned us that they will arrive tired (as the beds on the flight may be uncomfortable!!! BEDS!!!!!) and smelly, as they have not had clothes washing facilities for a while! I am also concerned that they may be unable to interact socially!

Roll on tomorrow!

Fruit Loops

2010-06-04T23:16:00.003+01:00

Never have I thought you could have so much excitement at a convenience store. I was left to find dinner in the Narita Airport and ended up in the Lawson Station store. Having collected an eclectic mix of what was left on the shelf I went up to pay a very odd but enthusiastic shop assistant. After he rang up all the items he produced a tombola and indicated I should stick my hand into the box. I pulled out a white card and he jumped up and down and declared I was a very lucky person...why because I'd won the top fruit salad and jelly prize (worth £1.50). He was so infectious with his enthusiasm I turned around to the ever growing queue behind to smile about my victory.....all I got back were looks of disdain. It this what the Team Rejchrt trip has turned into...joy at winning a simple fruit dessert?

Don't Fall Down The Stairs

2010-06-04T13:06:00.005+01:00

Our seat reservations on All Nippon Airways have been disastrous, never getting what we asked for. So on our final domestic flight we were prepared for cramped legroom. What we got were two of the most bizarre and rare economy seats. We were in the upper deck of a Boeing 747 and as soon as you made it to the top of the stairs there were our seats. If the pilot had braked sharply, Peter would have shot off down the stairs. Shame!

Second Chance

2010-06-04T05:44:00.002+01:00

We have had an appalling response to our animal quiz from the Nagoya Zoo. Good try Mr Wilson, but dead stuffed dog gets you no prizes. To help you along, we have added some extra photos.

Conquering the Big Five

2010-06-04T05:11:00.004+01:00

No, there are no safaris in Japan with the Big Five to be seen, but on our final morning in Sapporo I conquered another tower. Sapporo is Japan's fifth largest city with a population of 1.8m and I have now ascended the heights in all of Japan's five largest cities (in order, these are Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya and Sapporo). I held off going up the TV tower (built in 1957, total height 147m with the observation platform at 90m) in the hope of better weather.

Unfortunately at 43 degrees north, where the Russian Far East Sakhalin island archipelago is closer than Tokyo, the weather is mercurial even in June (that means it rains a lot under a constant layer of thick cloud) and the views were grey. My mention that it's a shame we did not make it to the Russian Far East did not cut much ice with Sarah, so we move on.

And yes I cheated by taking a photo of a poster of Sapporo's Odori Street, which is how it should look.

Back to Nature Day 2

2010-06-03T12:11:00.004+01:00

Our next trip out on Hokkaido was less successful as the weather closed in and obscured the views of the lakeland scenery. Instead we headed to the coast, as I suggested to Sarah it might be nice to see one of Hokkaido's famous capes. I think she was less than impressed with the outing.

Odd Car Culture 2

2010-06-03T12:06:00.002+01:00

And the winner of the odd boxy car competition is...this bizarre maroon box.

And Finally Some Nature

2010-06-02T10:48:00.008+01:00

Thankfully we have got away from all those grey concrete boxes and now I have fresh air, space and grey skies. Unfortunately this freedom comes with the world's largest midges.

We had missed the cherry blossom celebrations in the south but picked up the last blossoms here in the cold north.

We managed to buy fruit without mortgaging the house, although melons here remain at a less than reasonable £35 each.

Organised Society

2010-06-02T10:12:00.009+01:00

In this conformist and highly organised and efficient part of the world there are still some things that surprise us. Taxis stand at ranks with their rear passenger door opened (automatically by a remote control switch) to allow easier access to the white lace covered seats. In Sapporo the streets are on a grid layout and, as in Mannheim in Germany, they are numbered from a central point to the points of the compass. How efficient is that?

The crime-free society also means that people happily leave their bags on the pavement, in restaurants and in parks and go off and have fun without a care in the world.

Smoking Culture

2010-06-02T10:11:00.005+01:00

Throughout our travels in North Asia smoking has followed us. In the People's Republic, in the Koreas and now surprisingly in Japan smoking rates are high. Here advertising bizarrely seems to suggest that a smoke will develop your biceps.

Even appealing to people' love of their pets and featuring cute animals does not seem to have had much effect on the smokers!

Japanese Cuisine

2010-06-01T23:17:00.001+01:00

This could be German cuisine - beer and meat. Except here it is hotpot and you have to self-cook it on a stone barbecue. And it could be beef tongue.

Fashion

2010-06-01T23:12:00.005+01:00

You can either call Japanese fashion cutting edge or downright bizarre. It swings between the childish (no surprises there) to the completely thrown-together eccentric look. This season’s summer fashion consists of floral, denim and lace layers topped off with a straw boater. After 15 years of marriage, Peter admitted the Chantilly lace pretty dresses - I think I would end up looking like a giant tablecloth, I think I will stick to jeans and a t-shirt. Now I am not one to comment on hair colour, but with such a genetically uniform hair colour (black) self-expression to dyeing your hair lighter, this invariably ends up being a rather dodgy ginger.

What is This (Again)?

2010-06-01T23:11:00.001+01:00

It is much enjoyed by Koreans for the dinner. Here in Japan it is highly revered as a pampered child replacement. It is often to be seen out on the streets wearing a coat, braces, dresses or having a little pampering at the local hotel.

Restaurant Sauce

2010-06-01T23:10:00.001+01:00

The name really doesn’t say it at all. It’s really just like brown sauce.

Renting a Car in Japan

2010-06-01T23:09:00.001+01:00

We have done this twice now, once in Okinawa and now again in Hokkaido, in Japan’s far north pioneering territory. Unlike much of the rest of the world, the big names in car hire here are the main car manufacturers (Honda, Nissan and Toyota).

Car hire here normally involves approaching a kiosk for a document check and calling the shuttle bus. When you are ready to depart to the car hire parking lot, the attendant bows. Language skills are, however, challenging. This normally involves Sarah banging the Japanese-language GPS in frustration and reverting to good old maps (which was my preferred strategy anyway). The car hire companies even provide helpful leaflets on the appropriate posture for sitting in a car.

Getting around is relatively easy as most street names and signboards are also in Roman characters. Parking is a different matter and involves a complex system due to the limited space; there are no vast multi-storey car parks here. On our first attempt at a city car park we drove onto a turntable to be manoeuvred 90 degrees (heaven forbid you can do your own 90 degree turn). You then drive onto a ramp inside the building. This ramp turns out to be a one-car carriage in a Ferris wheel vault of a car park, all the cars rotating around in the narrow space. Here it is stored until you need it again. When you want your car the attendant presses a button on a computer and your car and ramp rotate round to line up with the turntable.

Flying in Japan

2010-06-01T23:06:00.004+01:00

This is another mystery for Team Rejchrt. The cultural mysteries seem to keep coming on this trip.

We thought flying in China was unique, but Japan is also proving different. While all the staff are extremely courteous and there is much deferential bowing, the airline systems seem incapable of coping with non-Japanese travellers for simple things like ticketing queries and the check-in. Politeness

Sarah continues to approach the airline staff and make requests for a change of seats (the seats we had confirmed on an international reservation system do not appear in the airline’s system and they even had a different domestic reference number to find the reservation). Try explaining all of the above in pidgin English and Japanese and you soon get nowhere fast. This futile exercise causes some frustration and walking away with a shaking of the head, wondering how a country’s systems can be so different and so inscrutable to outsiders. Perhaps it is because of the extreme politeness of the staff that Sarah keeps trying - everything is done with a helpful smile, encouraging you to approach the counter to ask for help. This also applies to the security staff, who bow when returning your tray of possessions from the x-ray scanner - try getting this rather than some abusive comments from BAA staff.

Japan could teach Ryanair a thing or two about cost cutting. The domestic Business lounges are quite spartan and offer only the basics - soft and hot drinks and a few packets of snacks. All food on board is paid for - Japanese travellers are so used to no service on domestic flights they bring their own food, normally bento boxes with some sushi or sashimi, which you can buy in the terminal building. So as soon as the seat belt lights go out everyone has their food out. Flying with ANA is truly a picnic and we have joined in.

Downgrading

2010-06-01T12:40:00.001+01:00

We feared the Inter-Continental in Yokohama might be our last grand hotel of the trip. With some trepidation we approached the Mercure in Sapporo, certainly a few rungs down on the scale of hotel exclusivity. What a pleasant surprise - we ended up with a room at a fraction of the price with views over town and the TV Tower, only a year old with crisp colours, stylish French-designed décor and plenty of amenities. We spent a good 20 minutes wandering around the room trying to find fault with it, but really struggled except for perhaps a slight lack of square meterage. Even the tea cups and glasses are stylishly elegant.

Towers and Yet More Towers

2010-05-30T09:05:00.009+01:00

While Sarah continues to bemoan the lack of nature and the crowds in Tokyo, Japan's metropolis of 12.8m souls, I took the opportunity to drag her round some more tall buildings and at the same time managed to scale three towers in a day. I started in the Shinjuku district with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and two free observatories, both on 45F of the 243m twin towers (North and South). This also offered views of the world's tallest clock tower - for those collectors of trivia this is, of course, the NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building in Tokyo's Shibuya district.

Next up was the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, completed in 2003 at 238m with its observatory on 52F. This tower is rather special in that it has a modern art gallery on 53F and for an extra £2.50 you can ascend one floor further for an open air view of the helipad and surrounding sea of concrete, including Tokyo's tallest building. Again for stato collectors this is the Midland Tower at 248m. Sarah was so unimpressed she stayed at the bottom. Unfortunately the Japanese "early summer" weather did not play ball and I had grey skies and low cloud to contend with.

Why Japan Beats the Southern Hemisphere

2010-05-30T08:56:00.003+01:00

Avid readers may remember we had two gripes about our extended stay in Oceania - the cost of living in Oz and the horrific driving in ENZED. As would be expected from a country as organised as Japan, they have managed to address both these issues.

Pedestrian rights are sacrosanct, turning vehicles have to give way to pedestrians crossing the road even if this means they miss their go to make the turn at the intersection. No police cars shooing pedestrians off the road here.

In Australia a premium of up to 100% of the standard drinks price had been noted by Team Rejchrt for the sale of chilled drinks, this was deemed pure profiteering. Japanese retail means vending machines at every street corner with standardised prices and the machines are so clever they keep the drinks chilled in any weather. That's what I call service.

Smuggling Secrets

2010-05-30T07:55:00.006+01:00

Now I have had one brush with the law, I feel I can freely provide information to those who might be thinking of smuggling, invading or generally creating mischief on the high seas. Our hotel in Yokohama (Tokyo port) overlooks the Japanese Coast Guard piers and on Saturday at 6pm all the fleet came in (about 15-20 different sized ships). No-one appeared to be going out to patrol. Those nautical mischief-makers should be alright if they wanted to start on Saturday night. We left the hotel on Sunday morning about 8.30am and there was no sign of life, so you should be ok until Sunday 9am.

PS On Sunday evening the fleet returned home early at 5pm - I shall be monitoring their comings and goings until we check out.

Japanese Cuisine

2010-05-29T12:24:00.005+01:00

After a week of abstaining from the local delicacies, in part caused by a nervousness inherited from our China sojourn of bizarre sweet and savoury combinations and never knowing quite what you will get, we have finally plunged head first into Japanese food. We had already been lunching on sushi and sashimi but felt it was time to move on from western cuisine to the set Japanese menus. The not knowing is still there as is the pointing due to a lack of language skills, but we have been pleasantly surprised - and the pointing is facilitated by pictures on the menus of all food items. Pork cutlet (tonkatsu) is a national dish and hamburg steak seems to feature heavily, washed down with seaweed broth and lots of rice with ground turnip.

When It's Better To Have a View Than Be In It

2010-05-29T11:49:00.010+01:00

I had booked us into the Inter-Continental Yokohama Grand as a treat. This hotel is meant to be the icon of the Minato Mirai 21 waterfront in Yokohama, built on reclaimed land in 1991 in the form of a 140m 31F 594-room sail. It delivered on the stunning (but grey) views of Tokyo Bay. Where it did not meet expectations is that of course once you're inside the famous sail-like structure your views are only of the water. While Sarah enjoyed this glimpse of nature (amongst the smokestacks of the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan area), I wanted to see some concrete. Fortunately Japan's tallest skyscraper, the 71F 296m high Landmark Tower, is nearby. This features not only Japan's highest observatory (Sky Garden on 69F) but the world's second fastest lift, travelling at 12.5m/second, requiring only 40 seconds to deliver visitors to the Sky Garden.

Nagoya Zoo 2

2010-05-29T08:39:00.001+01:00

Here are some more animals enjoying their new lives in Japan.

Nagoya Zoo

2010-05-29T08:34:00.003+01:00

As we had missed out on pandas in the People's Republic, we thought it was high time to go to a zoo in Japan. We chose Saturday morning for maximum exposure to the cultural experience of throngs of school children (yes, it is important to be seen to be going to school and doing extra-curricular activities at the weekend).

This being space-constrained Japan, there are houses that overlook the elephant and lion enclosures and of course some concrete is needed to balance nature, so within the grounds is the Higashiyama Sky Tower rising above the animals.

Weather Update

2010-05-29T08:13:00.004+01:00

As we leave Nagoya for the grey murk of Tokyo Bay and Yokohama and 15 deg (English summer?), the sun comes out in Nagoya. What a difference blue skies make to your viewpoint.

Portuguese in Nagoya

2010-05-29T08:05:00.002+01:00

Due to a large number of returnees of ethnic Portuguese-speaking Japanese from Brazil, Portuguese is the third language in Nagoya after Japanese and (American) English. “Catraca” in Portuguese almost makes more sense than “wicket” (US English) for railway ticket turnstile.

What is This?

2010-05-29T08:04:00.004+01:00

Prizes will be awarded to the first person who guesses what animal this is. Ryan is still owed his prize from the tennis competition. This has not been forgotten.

Odd Car Culture

2010-05-29T07:04:00.004+01:00

In keeping with Japan’s functional, boxy design traditions, why would cars be any different? The strange thing is that the Japanese manufacturers can produce sleek and stylish cars (almost) for the European market, so these awful cubes must be in demand at home.

Japanese Toilet Etiquette

2010-05-29T07:02:00.004+01:00

Toilets used to be squat affairs Asian style. During the economic boom years it was decided that western toilets were more appropriate for a developed country like Japan. Nowadays their toilets have incorporated all the latest technological gizmos you could hope to see, including heated seats and front and rear water jets. Some even have tinkling sounds to mask the noises one might make. Sarah was also shocked to find a female urinal in the ladies at Nagoya airport, we thought Japanese ladies too genteel to pee standing up.

Dopey Aussies

2010-05-29T07:02:00.003+01:00

Even in zoos Aussies seem to be the dopey breed. This roo (on the right) managed to get its head stuck in the dustpan handle whilst sneaking some extra food. It took him a while to work out how to escape…use brute force to shake your head about until irritating metal item falls off.

And My Favourite Building

2010-05-29T07:01:00.002+01:00

This is the very unusual Modegakuen Spiral Towers in Nagoya, 36F and 170 metres and completed in 2008.

Another 100 Metre Tower Conquered

2010-05-29T06:58:00.002+01:00

This is Nagoya with its TV Tower. Built in 1954 and with a Sky Balcony at 100m it is now a cultural landmark, as it was the first TV tower to be opened in Japan. As at 2006 over 31m visitors had passed through the tower.

Brush With The Law

2010-05-29T06:56:00.002+01:00

It has amused Peter greatly that I have had an encounter with the "fuzz". There are so many traffic lights in Japan, some in really stupid places. I crossed on a “red man” where the only cars able to cross the road towards me were taxis, of which there were none. As I got halfway I noticed I was crossing towards a police station and waiting to speak to me with a giant truncheon was Mr Plod. His English was limited to "Don’t Cross on the Red Man", my Japanese was even more limited, so I let him know I thought there were too many pointless traffic lights and that I was intelligent enough to cross the road. His answer: "Don’t Cross on the Red Man". Peter, who for once in his life was obeying orders, laughed from the other side of the street.

More Attention to Detail

2010-05-29T06:55:00.003+01:00

The Japanese love of perfection and precision extends to municipal drainage covers. Here are some examples from Osaka, Nara and Nagoya.

Summer is Coming

2010-05-29T06:54:00.001+01:00

Summer is the season when the Japanese let their hair down and show off their light-hearted sides. Pokemon has, as a result, put in an appearance on airline timetables and on the side of aircraft fuselages. Japanese - the eternal children.

Why Japan is Not Like Germany

2010-05-27T11:54:00.003+01:00

There is one thing where the neatness and order diverge - overhead electrification is prevalent throughout Japan. A blot on the otherwise pristine and prissy landscape.

Pomp and Ceremony

2010-05-27T11:51:00.002+01:00

Tradition and ceremony are very important facets of daily Japanese life. When handing over money this must be offered on a tray rather than into the person’s hand. Even taxi drivers have a little plastic tray stuck to their central console for this purpose.

This can come across as fussy perfectionism if you’re in a grump with Japan or excellence in service if you’re having a good day. The ceremonial, some might say meaningless, greetings extend to entering a convenience store like Lawson to buy your 100 ml yoghurt for £1. As the bell rings to announce the footfall of the next customer all the staff utter a string of polite greetings and small bows.

There is no escape when driving in Japan either. We parked our car in an underground garage and were directed to a space by a suited attendant with white gloves and reflective baton. He indicated I must reverse the car into the space. The first attempt was out by a few millimetres so after I had cut the ignition I was directed to start all over again. The difference in alignment was minimal; Sarah, of course, was in a huff, having to deal with a nation of 128m compulsive obsessives on a daily basis.

And even roadwork signboards have a bowing figure on them to thank you for your understanding.

To Save or Not To Save

2010-05-26T22:32:00.002+01:00

I am currently getting annoyed that our computer clock has automatically updated to British Summer Time (BST). I know my time zones by reference to GMT so any country that does not have daylight savings time knocks out my calculations. I know from Aussie friends that they love BST as it makes it easier by a couple of hours in the northern summer to communicate with the Mother Country.

Japan is one of the places that does not change its time in summer. This is good news for us early risers - in Tokyo in early June sunrise is at 04:23 and sunset at 18:49.

Asian Friends

2010-05-26T12:47:00.002+01:00

I have made a lot of friends in Asia. I was very popular among the male gym staff at hotels in south-east Asia, now in Okinawa it’s the elderly Japanese women that have taken a shine to me.

Studying a dining menu outside Mos Burger, a cheap home-grown Japanese burger chain, we were accosted by an elderly lady who was keen to point out to Sarah the "handsome boy" Sarah had standing next to her. I don't know about Macca's but "I'm lovin' it."

Okinawa Island GMT+9 22-26deg

2010-05-26T12:37:00.003+01:00

The Japanese, like the Chinese, enjoy the fun of collecting rubber stamps in special books when they visit tourist sites. Team Rejchrt felt they should try this out and so at Shuri Castle in Naha on Okinawa I started collecting red stamps in the map leaflet for the castle. Peter helped out by pointing me to the stamping stations that I had missed and also helpfully pointed out the ones where the red ink was faint.

At the end of the visit we had only completed half of the stamps. He who is the obsessive compulsive decided that we should re-do the route to find the others. At this point he was offered the opportunity to stamp the map for himself, which he did upside down. We left with one stamp missing, we just couldn't find it. While I don't care, it's niggling the compulsive obsessive one. Team Rejchrt won't be joining in the stamping fun again.

Escapism

2010-05-26T12:33:00.005+01:00

My love of flying is based on the ability to escape the world by flying above it in a metal box. My hope of expunging the memory of countless school children on the Osaka train the day before was dashed when we boarded the plane to Okinawa with 250 seats out of the 260 seats on the plane taken by teenage school children. The high-pitched screams of both girls and boys on the take-off made me realise that the next two hours were going to be hell. Is Team Rejchrt destined to be followed around on its Japan tour by small people in uniform?

How Fast?

2010-05-26T07:58:00.004+01:00

To travel around Japan we are of course taking planes. You would not expect any less of Team Rejchrt and its immense carbon footprint. As flights were not available on certain routes, we are also using the train. In Japan this means the super-efficient and super-fast shinkansen (bullet trains). These are used to transport over 150m people a year on dedicated high speed lines, something British Rail can only dream of ever doing. Originally completed in 1964, the latest nozomi can travel at 300 km/hour and the average delay time is 6 seconds (the closest we get to anything like civilised rail travel is that there is apparently an original 0-series engine at the National Rail Museum in York).

Travelling at such high speeds, and there over 10 trains an hour doing these runs in each direction, means 170 km from Osaka to Nagoya is covered in a journey time of only 51 minutes. Of course, speed comes at a price - £50 each for a one-way trip. The 335 kilometres from Nagoya to Yokohama are knocked back in 1 hour and 18 minutes at a cost of £75 each (once we had discovered that you can halve the price of tickets by not making seat reservations there are only 3 carriages for cheapskate travellers). The platform attendants bow as the train pulls into the station and the ticket collector bows before checking tickets. This is another country we have visited with no tipping culture and these service standards are simply the norm and expected.

Of course, this is a populous country that requires mass transportation. Our 747 flight from the New Chitose airport in Sapporo to Tokyo-Haneda is configured for 565 seats, that’s about 230 more seats crammed into the aircraft that we normally fly on Lufthansa to Johannesburg. We have selected seats 86AC in the last row of the upper deck with a view down the staircase and with additional side windows unique to the 747-400Domestic configuration only ever bought by Japanese airlines.

Why Japan is Like Germany

2010-05-26T07:55:00.003+01:00

Throughout the latter stages of this trip we are coming to realise how small the world is and how much of it looks similar. This often results in conversations between us, as at the Osaka waterfront, along the lines of "this reminds me of Durban and St Kilda."

A comparison between Japan and Germany may initially seem at odds as North Asian and European cultures are vastly different. However, our first impressions of this extended stay in Japan are very much that Japan is a copy of Germany.

This is particularly evident in the building style and should probably not be that surprising as both countries experienced their post-war economic booms at similar times. Both countries have a strong background in engineering and manufacturing and functional and efficient solidity are much admired. Much of Japan has definite similarities to the German industria of the Ruhrgebiet - greying heavy industry and rows of neat and tidy houses where tradition and functionality are valued over extravagance. The superb cleanliness is also much appreciated by Team Rejchrt after the filth that is China.

After almost two decades of economic stagnation and negative inflation, Japan is not as expensive as popular myth has us believe. You can eat out quite cheaply for £5 a head, but due to space constraints fruit is still expensive at £1 per single apple or banana. This stagnation and lack of innovation are reflected in the conservative and traditional business dress. Little seems to have changed since the 1980s and smart casual office wear has certainly not taken off here - dark suits are to be seen everywhere. This traditional conservatism is much in evidence, with white-gloved bowing considered an integral part of any service industry. Even coffee shops serve drinks in china cups that would not look out of place in granny’s vitrine. This is Middle Europe as it was in the 70s and 80s. Safe, crime-free and well-mannered (after Chinese manners we were shocked that a Japanese held open the lift door for us instead of barging us out of the way).

After China nowhere else on the planet can ever feel the same. The energy and buzz that is evident throughout China is missing in Japan. A rapidly ageing population and low birth rates are also similar to Middle Europe and contribute to the feeling of staid solidity and it all seems rather pedestrian - the UK’s decaying economy and lack of investment can only feel positively feudal after China. Japan is finally waking up to the potential of its privileged geographic proximity to the People’s Republic, both in terms of inbound tourism (the Chinese love shopping here in the knowledge there are no fake, knocked off goods) and exports of engineering technology to China (in the knowledge that this will be copied and re-sold branded “Made in China” within months at a fraction of the price).

Yet More Height

2010-05-25T11:36:00.002+01:00

Here are some more highlights of Osaka, including the Floating Garden Observatory tower.

The Quest for More Height

2010-05-25T11:34:00.003+01:00

As would be expected, I have been trying to scale new heights. Japan is not developing as rapidly as China, so the new heights are much lower than in the People’s Republic. However, there are some quirky towers to ascend like the Tsutenkaku Pleasure Tower built in 1912 in the style of Eiffel’s Parisian creation with a viewing platform at 91 metres.

There is also the Floating Garden Observatory in Osaka-Umeda. While not challenging any height records, this observation deck at 173 metres is outdoors. This is a bit of a tourist gimmick with the promise of a “golden sunset” from the Lovers’ Corner with benches that change colour depending on where you sit. The World Trade Centre Cosmotower, opened in 1995 during the height of the Japanese financial crisis, has an observation deck at 55F with views of the land reclamation in the port area, and this tower specialises in weddings at altitude. This is also Osaka’s tallest building at 256 metres. Enough stats for today.

Oh Dear

2010-05-25T10:43:00.005+01:00

There are many of you who have heard of our trials and tribulations in preventing the New Forest deer from entering our garden and decimating the plants. Generally the deer win every year. The New Forest deer are very shy and retiring and you can never get close to them.....in Nara there is a deer park unlike no other in the UK, the deer actually run up to new arrivals to check them out for food. You can purchase wafers to feed them for a £1, or watch them try to steal the wafers off the vendors when they are not looking. We resisted the urge to strangle them on behalf of our garden plants.

Patt

2010-05-25T09:06:00.001+01:00

Regular readers will remember my affliction last month in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, where the cold weather necessitated frequent toilet stops. Japan is patt (pee all the time) heaven - public conveniences are provided throughout the country, every railway station has decent facilities and they are all immaculately clean and in good nick. My bladder is loving it.

How to Make Sarah's Day Even Better

2010-05-25T08:52:00.008+01:00

Not only can I do concrete and grey drabness, I can also provide Sarah with 128m peoeple crammed onto a few small islands. And with our love of children, the Kintetsu subway ride from Osaka to Nara proved challenging. Sarah blamed me for commenting the previous day that with Japan's ageing population you don't see many youths about. Try a carriage full of three different school groups.

Unfortunately the school groups were going to the same place as us, the UNESCO World Heritage temples and shrines in Nara. The youngsters chased after us shouting Hello and it appeared every one of them had a workbook with "harass a foreigner" page to encourage their English speaking.

Sarah's method of dealing with these constant intrusions was to put her fingers to her lips, this seemed to stop them dead in their tracks and it worked every time. The only time it failed was when she tried it on me.

Culture Shock

2010-05-25T08:47:00.002+01:00

In Japan everything is slightly different. While navigating the airline All Nippon's website to see if they might have an online check-in facility (they don't), we came across this important notification:

Suspension of Carriage of Short-nosed Dog

Thank you for flying with ANA.
As ANA is concerned about the safety of your animal, we are unable to accept the following short-nosed dog breeds from July 1st to September 30th.
In accordance with the professional veterinarian viewpoint, short-nosed dogs are vulnerable to environmental health conditions in the summer season, and its respiratory tract is narrow (compared to other breeds). These particularities can possibly cause a breathing disorder with heat stroke by high rough breathing in situation of high temperature/humidity. As a result, ANA decides not to accept the carriage of short-nosed dogs during the aforementioned period every year.

We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.

1.Period : July 1st- September 30th, 2010

2.Affected Flights : All ANA Group operating flights
(Domestic and International)

3.Affected Breeds : Bulldog, French Bulldog, Boxer, Shih Tzu, Boston Terrier, Bull Terrier, King Charles Spaniel*, Tibetan Spaniel, Brussels Griffon, Chow Chow, Pug, Chin, Pekingese
* Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is NOT same as King Charles Spaniel, ANA can accept Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Grey Japan

2010-05-25T08:44:00.004+01:00

Sarah was delighted when I suggested a day trip out to Kobe, the home of Kawasaki Heavy Industries. It was inauspicious start to our Japan travels under leaden skies with 50mm of rain & grey industria as far as the eye could see. Sarah's idea of heaven: a busy city with lots of grey concrete and rain.

...And Then We Come To Japan

2010-05-24T11:06:00.008+01:00

I've not been looking forward to Japan, I don't really like cities and rain and concrete are my two most hated things. It started badly, both of our bags being damaged and then the airline refusing to take responsibility because the bags (although within the airline weight restrictions) were too heavy for them to accept damage liability. After a long and tortuous discussion about where was this in the small print they offered a second-hand replacement bag whilst they tried to get ours fixed. The replacement bag was a Japanese suitcase with Mickey Mouse embossed large on both sides, funnily enough they couldn't open the combination lock on the case so we agreed that they would buy us a new one and send it to the hotel. I kindly picked the cheapest bag they had (£150) on the basis it was the only one not in a neon colour.

We then hit the railways to get to the hotel, a long and grey journey in the rain. Rain and trains are going to be the theme in Japan. Due to a problem buying flight tickets tomorrow we have the joy of getting up early and dashing across the country to another airport. Railways in Japan are not linked up and for many of the privately owned lines you can only buy tickets from their offices. So I have stumped up £50 each to get us half way there on one line and will have to buy another ticket when I make it to the halfway point. South West Trains could learn so much from Japan. Japan Railways has learnt something from British Rail. Every train we were on today on our sightseeing ran late due to heavy rain......a weather phenomenon Osaka gets I believe daily.

Next Stop Okinawa....now famous for protesters demanding the removal of the 50,000 US troops stationed there. I am going to have to wear a Union Jack flag on my person so I don't get mistaken for a soldier....the purple unruly hair might give it away.

Different Kinds of Odd

2010-05-24T11:02:00.004+01:00

After nearly a week in the US territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, I have come to the conclusion that China and the USA have something in common, which I am sure neither party would like to hear.

We have previously written how different a culture China is to anything else on earth, with their hoiking, pushing, shoving and behaviour we would call odd on top of an infrastructure and processes that make no sense it really is unique. Then you look at the USA, everyone we've met has been incredibly polite and well mannered but again the processes, just to get from one island to the other, involves bizarre immigration checks. And imperial measures are difficult to grasp.

In both of the countries you can be left thinking what on earth is going on and why are we doing this......or maybe it's Team Rejchrt that is the oddity.

Lost Property and The Day That I Gave In to My Transgender Tendencies

2010-05-20T11:47:00.005+01:00

The part of Team Rejchrt that normally does a final check of hotel rooms on check out failed miserably in Guilin. My running shorts and top acquired at reasonable price in ENZED were left behind. Some might say this is a good thing as I had been using the same kit twice daily for 3 weeks in China. I am not going to mention which part of Team Rejchrt does the final check but she was the one that was ill.

I never realised how difficult it might be to find a replacement outfit at a reasonable price. Especially in the world’s manufacturing emporium that is China. Whole shops are dedicated to selling semiconductors and you can generally find cheap Chinese made goods anywhere in the world except when you need them in China. Or you can find well known brand names at prices affordable to the Chinese middle classes but not destitute travelling westerners. We had the same problems in Korea, one look at the price tags revealed that the UK and ENZED are some of the cheapest places to buy Chinese made goods. Finally in Guam, we go to the world’s largest K-Mart and there is nothing but basketball outfits. But in Ross Stores store that is similar to TKMaxx (Sarah’s Heaven on Earth) after some tantrums from me (Sarah calls me a diva for wanting pockets and lining on my shorts that also look, feel and hang well) we finally have a replacement kit.

The downside of my Guam purchase is that Sarah also encouraged me to buy a new running top. What she did not tell me until I had handed over my dollars and we had brought the item back to the room was that it is in fact a women’s top (not shown in attached water park photos!). Life can never be the same again if anyone finds this out.

A Note About Tolerance

2010-05-20T11:33:00.002+01:00

After almost 11 months on the road, Team Rejchrt’s minimum acceptable service standard tolerance appears to be well defined.

In Guam, Avis supplied us with an old Nissan Versa (in the rest of the world this is known as a Tiida). This is my most hated rental car with soft seats that kill your back and posture after 10 minutes of driving. This particular basic model did not have a door lock so that you could actually lock the doors while driving - no automatic locks at all.

So rather than accept this piece of tin, we returned it. Avis was unable to provide an alternative car so we handed the keys back and went to another rental company.

When travelling becomes your everyday, your expectations increase, particularly from service partners you use frequently. Avis is no longer a preferred option. In the past we might have just put up with it and accepted a deficient car. Now, all travel service providers beware, Team Rejchrt is on the loose.

Fresh from getting a Canadian $100 voucher as compensation for a defective reading light on an Air Canada flight, this level of service is going to be expected by all airlines by Team Rejchrt…watch out Ryanair. Not that we ever, ever plan to grace O’Leary’s aircraft.

Slave Labour

2010-05-20T11:31:00.001+01:00

There is a big downside to Saipan if you have any ethical bones inside you. As it’s technically part of the US anything made there can say “Made in the USA”, which means you get a gold seal of approval from customers. However Saipan has special exemption from US labour laws (although nominally a minimum wage is in force), immigration and human rights. Unfortunately Chinese businessmen and the Chinese Communist Party as well as local politicians and a couple of dodgy US congressmen are well aware of the benefits of these two practices. Garment factories for GAP, Liz Claiborne and Ralph Lauren have been set up using Chinese female workers kept in dormitories. Gang masters in various poor Asian countries recruit young women to work and charge them a one off recruitment fee which they can never pay off. You want to hear more about the scandals then the internet and Amazon can keep you informed.

The other famous thing about Saipan is this is the home of the Roy Keane Incident…because Keano walked out on the Irish World Cup Team because the training base in Saipan was used more as a holiday opportunity for the Irish FA.

Just When I Thought I Got Away With It

2010-05-20T11:30:00.002+01:00

Remember my pain when I got pulled in by US Homeland Security in Vancouver? Remember my recent joy when I managed to get into Saipan with no issues whatsoever? Well I’ve blown it. Leaving Saipan for a short hop flight to Guam there are quick immigration checks for all. And we got stopped for having the wrong stamp in our passport. I’d even picked the nicer looking Homeland Security agent who didn’t bark at everyone. Supposedly all the discussions about which form to use on arrival achieved nothing as we’d been given the wrong forms so thankfully the immigration agent filled in our forms for us and just got us to sign them. It helped the hotel we stay in is where Saipan boards the US immigration officials, so she’d already seen us about…or she was watching me!