Back in the game

Current location: Hanoi, Vietnam.

Being in China meant being under the "protection" of the Golden Shield, and in case you didn't know, sites like blogspot and facebook are on the blacklist. While I was able to get around the censorship at times, it wasn't really for long enough for me to post anything. (Also I was just plain lazy.)
But now I'm in free Vietnam, where people are allowed to google words like 'freedom', 'Tibet' and 'Dalai Lama', without getting their connection cut so I guess I have no reason not to start updating the blog again. (Aside from my laziness of course.)

I'm going to cover the whole of China in a single post sometime soonish because I have the memory of a goldfish, and what little I remember of China is fading fast.

I might have some trouble posting pictures from China though, as I can't access them at the moment for some reason. I plugged my portable hard-drive in and it started making rather disturbing crunching noises, and while I can open all the folders on the drive, most of the files are "inaccessible". I just hope it's not a head crash, because that would mean I'd have to say buh-bye to almost 3 months worth of pictures and video.
Equipment can be replaced. Memories can't.

Kyoto & Osaka

Current location: Beijing, China

Damn. It's been almost a month since my last post. And as you can see I've made my way across the sea and up to Beijing. I guess time flies when you're having fun, huh?
To business:

They call Kyoto the cultural capital of Japan. Osaka I've heard being described as Tokyo's little brother on crack.
Bet you can't guess which one I liked better.

I went around the mandatory sights in Kyoto, and while the temples and shrines are kinda cool, once you've seen two or three, you've seen them all.
Kyoto wasn't all boring though. I did meet new people and had tons of fun.
I went on a crazy fishing trip with friends, blasting through the night on motorbikes. I led a beer-fuelled expedition in search for a bar in the wee hours in a city where everything closes shortly after midnight. I rented a bicycle and spent hours riding through the different neighbourhoods, getting lost as usual.
Having spent a couple of days in Kyoto I took a train to Osaka, where I met up with some friends I had made in Tokyo, and spent a weekend exploring the nightlife, which I must say is easily on par with that of Tokyo.

My plan was to spend a few days in Kyoto and Osaka before continuing towards Hiroshima and Fukuoka to take a ferry to China.
Having learned from my fuck up in Russia, I started my research on the ferry and on the visa early, and found out that the easiest way for me to get a boat and the visa was at Osaka, so I decided to skip western Japan and submitted my visa application. This meant that I was stuck in Kansai for a week. Luckily that week happened to coincide with the Daimonji-festival, so at least there was something interesting going on.

Fushimi Inari, check. Next.

The Golden Pavilion, check. Next.

Ryoan-ji kare-sansui zen garden, check. Next.

Kiyomizu-dera, check. Next.

Gion by night.

Kamogawa and riverside restaurants in Kyoto.

Hidari Daimonji.

Funagata.

Osaka castle.

Attacking Osaka castle, ninja style!

Osaka seen from the top of Osaka castle.

Osaka castle moat.

What's missing from this picture?
Answer: Nothing.
Alcohol and vintage video games, what else could you need?
Space Station in Amemura, Osaka.