China odds and ends

Now drink some. Like most visitors to China we preferred to stick to bottled water. This led to a rather funny incident at one of the security checks. My bottle was still sealed so they allowed me through. However the others were told very sternly on extracting their water bottles from their bag to "now drink". Most thought they had to drink the whole thing. Another was told to "drink a little" but it sounded like "drink a litre". I guess the idea was you had to prove your bottle did not contain anything untoward if you drank from it. Like most of the security, it was rather arbitary. It is easy to buy bottle caps that seal - the street vendors do it all the time selling "bottled water". I am not sure what I would do with 500ml of dangerous fluid at the race venue, but if I wanted to get some in it would not have been hard. They never checked the fluid in the bike drink bottles. And I could have just walked through the forest to get to the venue as well.

The driving in China is very different to what I am used to. Mostly they drive on the right side of the road, and mostly they pass on the left. But not always. The most noticable thing is the use of the hooter. Mostly its to say "I'm coming through", or "I am here", which is a beep-beep kind of toot. If you mean business however you simply lean on the horn for a good ten seconds. I'm used to drivers letting each other into the lane by slowing down and making a gap. Not in China. You move to the other side of your lane but hold, or even increase your speed. Once you are both in the same lane, slightly overlapping the adjoining lanes or edge of the road, you then sort it out. There were times I thought I was inside a video game.

Pedestrian crossings are often the only place you can cross as barriers prevent you walking on the road elsewhere. However, just because you have the green man showing, you certainly don't expect right of way. And if there are no lights, there may as well not be any crossing stripes there. The vehicles turning right (equivalent of a left hand turn in New Zealand) do so against a red light. Not only do you have to watch for cars, but for cycles, motorbikes and motorised cycles coming and going in all directions. The Chinese are very nonchalant and relaxed about the intersections. They will head through one on nothing more than a flimsy bicycle, with cars crossing in all directions, and be happily chatting away on a cell phone, possible smoking a cigarette as well.

Vomit. Before my trip was a little concerned about coping with the Asian food, particularly in China. My only previous experience of genuine Chinese food was not a happy one, when a group of Chinese acquaintances took me to Yum Cha in Palmerston North. I gagged quite a few times at the table and was very nearly sick in front of my kind hosts. In China I only threw up once. And that was after eating at Subway. Go figure. My Subway Melt had huge chunks of raw bacon fat in it. And while that goes down OK, once it hits my stomach, it is returned with some momentum. Ironic, don't you think?

The smog in Beijing and surrounds is most impressive. In a bad way, of course. I never actually saw the sun, or any blue sky in the 4 days I was in the city. Sometimes I could see where the sun was, because that patch of smog was a little brighter than the rest. The average visibility was less than 5km, sometimes down to about 2km. After the first day, I felt like I had been smoking. It's sad to think that the residents have to breath that stuff every day of their lives.

Beijing

After the trip to the Great Wall I decided I had had enough of the Fengshan Training Centre. So while I had already paid for another night, I managed to secure a booking for that night in the same hotel I was going to be in on Tuesday and Wednesday. So I ordered a taxi, having to work quite hard to get the Volunteers to do it, because "the wait was long". Nevertheless it arrived in less than an hour. I had some trouble checking out of the hotel. On checking in I was required to pay 1000CNY (about $200) as a deposit in case I trashed the place. Now they take your money and put it in the safe, and when you leave you get your exact same money back again. The only trouble is they couldn't find mine, so just left me standing there. When the taxi driver enquired as to when we could leave I said I was waiting for my deposit. After much loud talking and the suggestion that I had changed rooms, they finally found my money. The odd thing was they never checked my room for damages.

Before I left I caught up with some of the lovely Mexican friends I had made, Pepe, Hector and Mireya. I swapped my NZ shirt for Hector's Mexican one, and he threw in a couple of pairs of socks. They have my email address so I hope to see them if they come to New Zealand next year. So I was please to arrive in Beijing itself and settle into a comfortable hotel where most of the staff could speak some English.

The next morning I nervously entered the subway, but in the end found it to be quite simple once I worked out that you pay 2CNY (about 40cents) for a trip anywhere on the system. All of the station names are in English as are the announcements. The lines are colour coded, but sometimes the colours differed from those on my map. Fortunately they were numbered as well, and the numbers matched correctly to the map.

I headed for the Olympic Stadium, and enjoyed finally "getting to the Olympics" even if I wasn't competing and it was 3 years too late.

This photo is to show the smog.

The wide concourse at the Olympic venue.

The main aim of the day's visit.

Scene of some great sporting achievements. Usain Bolt's view of the 100m from the start

Another famous sporting venue.

There was plenty more I could have done, but I flagged planned trips to the Beijing Zoo and the Summer Palace, and chose to put my feet up. I was feeling the pace by now.

My last day in Beijing was set aside to go to Tienanmen Square. So Commie cap on my head and camera around my neck I headed for something of a pilgrimage. Very, very different to my last pilgrimage which was to Buckingham Palace. After the Square I went to the adjoining Forbidden City. Not much to report really, and the photos tell the story. I as impressed by the sense of history, but personally it did not do much for me.

Me and the big man

Suitable headgear for a visit to the Forbidden City.

So instead of visiting any more significant tourist spots I took a quick walk through a central shopping area. That was fun, and made for some interesting photo shots. I could have spent days taking photos there if there was fresh air to breath, and the police state didn't make me feel so uneasy.

A popular side shopping alley.

Lots of great looking food.

Finally, however it was time to fly out, and on Thursday morning I headed for the airport, again in a taxi. I was a little concerned about the traffic situation. There is a great subway route to the airport but the thought if lugging my bags down there didn't seem like a good one, not to mention a possible problem with the x-ray machines which were not big enough to take my bike. Once through customs and in the boarding area, I felt a bit better. The flight was uneventful, and I arrived safely in Palmerston North on Friday morning. Glad to be home.

Now I am way behind on my work, and other general matters, so I suppose I need to put my head down and sort that all out. I have the first qualifying race for the World Triathlon Champs at the end of November in Auckland. This is a year out from the event which will be in Auckland. This means qualifying will be much tougher than usual. The November race represents my best opportunity as the other two races come right in the middle of my ironman-distance season, and fall within one or two weeks of the endurance events. I'm a little tired right now, and my knee is still giving a lot of trouble, but I hope I can put something together for the Auckland qualifier as I so want to race on home soil.

The Great Wall of China

When I awoke to get ready for the trip to the wall there was a text from Mike sent after 3am. He said, don't expect the girls too early. I didn't and got on with some blogging, but within an hour of the appointed time, they arrived bright and cheery. Changping is not too far from the the great wall, there being too access points at Badaling and Juyongguan. Badaling is closest to Beijing so is the most popular. To make matters worse the 12th September is the mid-Autumn Festival. This is a grand family public holiday in China, so the locals would definitely be out and about. We headed for the Juyongguan Pass.

Taxis are incredibly cheap in China. So the thing to do is simply hire one for the day. When not in use they will charge you about $5 per hour to wait for you. It is much more convenient and cheaper than the local bus tours. The advantage of the bus tours however is that you have an english-speaking tour guide.

We told the driver we would be an hour and we set off to climb the wall. I say climb, because you don't just walk along it. The wall was built as a defensive one and so naturally this worked better in the mountains. If you built a 50 foot wall on top of a very steep hill, then it makes it even harder for marauding to clamber over. However it made hard going for us poor tourists.

There were tens of thousands of people there that day. And probably on most days. In some parts the steps are almost worn away so you have to step on the outer edges so as not to slide back.

Grainne couldn't stay away from the curio shops. There was some good stuff there too. The more hard-nosed Suzanne wanted to to bargain, "Start at 10%" she would urge, but Grainne would offer around 80% of the asking price. As we went on her bag got fuller and fuller.

We climbed a lot further and longer than expected. But we were determined to get to the top near high point. I am not sure the photos show how steep it really was. The other thing that impressed, unfortunately, was the smog. Our stay up in the Ming Tomb reservoir area had been largely smog free, but out here it was awful, even though we were some 70km from Beijing, further actually than the reservoir.

We took a lot of photos, and I hope to catch up with the Irish girls online to swap pictures. On the way down I had a tap on my shoulder. It was Tiare Lund, the NZ team captain who won her age-group. Tiare however is more famous for her ironman exploits and she recognised my IMNZ shoulder bag. We had chatted before, but out-of-context she couldn't place me. She walked on up, and after a few minutes I suddenly said to the girls that I had let an opportunity slip, and I charge up the mountain after Tiare. She wasn't going slowly but I caught her and she looked somewhat startled. I pressed one of her companions into taking a photo of her and I. Hey, I can be a groupie if I want to. I mean how often would I get to be in a photo with someone like Tiare Lund on the Great Wall of China. I headed back down to catch the girls still haggling over prices.

Tiare and I on the Great Wall of China. A photo I will always cherish, such is my admiration of this lady.

I will use a selection of photos to tell the rest of the story. Of course I make no apologies for all the photos of Suzanne and Grainne. They are lovely :)

The rest of Sunday

If you look closely at the photos of me on the bike you will notice I have my water bottle tucked down the front of my trisuit. After the very first corner on the cycle I decided to have a drink, and when I tried to put the water bottle back in its cage behind my seat the whole thing came away in my hand. I needed the water bottle as there were no electrolytes, or even water, out on the bike course, and just water on the run. Besides, I couldn't ditch the bottle or the cage as that could mean an on-the-spot disqualification. So I hung the cage over my tri-bar and stuck the bottle into my suit, as the domestiques do in the Tour de France. I guess the cage got damaged in the trip over. Good, as I can now get a new set up for the bottles - I never really liked what I had.

The women's elite race was scheduled to start some 3 hours after I finished. Instead of hanging around I chose to ride back to the hotel. I figured I could walk, get a bus, taxi or even ride back to the venue. But as I was sick of riding I washed my wheels and packed them away. I had made friends with two Brits, Dominic and Mike. First we tried to get a taxi, but funnily, the Chinese helpers never wanted to order anything if it was going to take too long. This was usually described as 10 minutes, but could be anything from 10 minutes to an hour. I would have been happy to wait. As usual the laid on buses were at a totally unsuitable time. And I didn't feel like walking. Mike tried to persuade me to ride with him. I declined, and offered as an afterthought "I'll be gutted if I miss seeing Andrea Hewitt win the finals". I missed seeing Andrea Hewitt win the finals, live. Nevertheless, I did see it on TV, and it was magical.

That evening was the grand closing ceremony. But I had had enough of security checks, endless waiting, and I really couldn't bear to hear the self-adulation that I was sure was going to go on. So Mike, Dominic, the two Irish lasses, and Mike's sister who had come over to watch him race (bless her), headed for one of the real hotels for dinner. There we caught up with some of the other Irish and British contingent who also decided to give the pomp and ceremony a miss. An enjoyable evening was had. Dominic had an early start the next morning, and I could see this was a party likely to get out of hand, so we caught the hotel shuttle back before it got too late. Before I left I agreed to hook up with the delightful Irish lasses for a taxi ride to the Great Wall the next morning. They had finally shifted hotels, but said they would pick me up at 7.30am.

World Triathlon Champs 2011 - Race Report

Sunday, 11th September, 2011. Race day. I opted for the bus to the start which meant a 3am start. I figured I would be woken up by the noise and/or nerves, so thought it better to save myself the 40 minute walk in the morning on my already tired legs. I went to bed with Mr zopiclone the night before, so I was pretty much out of it from 9pm.

As expected we arrived at the race start some 40 minutes before they were ready to even start processing us. And that only took a few minutes. The bikes were all set up, so we only really had to pump tires, place shoes, helmet and drink bottle in the correct position. And then wait for another two and a half hours. Cheers, Local Organising Committee.

Warmly dressed, and waiting, and waiting...

Pippi, all set to go.

Finally, as 7.40am approached my age group was bustled along to the pontoon. It was a deep water start and the 80-odd competitors spread out over as many metres. And we were off. But something was clearly wrong in my mind. Orange caps (my age group) remained behind me. I eased back wondering why, but then a few eked ahead, and I realised I must be having a good swim. And indeed I was. It's been more than 25 years since I've raced that far in fresh-water without a wetsuit. While some said the course was long, I was pleased to have shed 15 minutes, around a third of my time over those years.

Soon I was onto the bike. It was a technically difficult, hilly course, and as expected many riders, including the slower ones were keeping left, when they were supposed to keep right. So there was nowhere to pass. If you passed on the right you risked outright disqualification. Some were DQed. Once again, I must commend the race organisers for this brilliant move. In Scotland we raced on the right, so there was no reason why we couldn't race on the left in China (i.e. in both cases opposite to what the local drivers did, or perhaps were supposed to do). Nevertheless I had a good ride. I was prepared to push pretty hard as I wasn't sure if I could run at all. I rode the hilly 42km in around 1:13. Pretty satisfied about that.

And onto the run. Three and a half laps with six nasty little climbs. But the rest of it was on the same rubber they use on running tracks these days - a legacy from the 2008 Olympic triathlon held at the same venue. This was good for my knee. Somehow I strung together a 52minute 10km. My slowest in several years, but when you think my two key training sessions were a five 90 second hill repeat, and 2.5km where I couldn't run under 5 minutes per kilo before being reduced to a hobble, it wasn't too bad. Oh, and I walked the Gorge Track just before I left. So again, pleased with that split time.

All in all I came in, in just under 2 hours and 41 minutes, beating a couple of my team mates, and around a third of the field. Although a few of those were rent-a-crowd locals who didn't really belong in the race, so they don't count.

So, mission accomplished, perhaps somewhat against my expectations. Here is my race in pictures...

Out of the water. My intent is clear.

Onto the bike. With same intent.

And carrying through onto the run.

Last lap, looking across to see where that damn big Aussie bloke is.

Nearly home, and starting to celebrate.

At last, the finish line, and I have a real smile for the first time that day.

The day before

Saturday, 10th September, 2011. So my race is tomorrow. I start at 7.40am, but my only option is to get on the bus at 4am! This means getting up at 3am. The whole thing sucks really, and I am so disappointed. I suppose it is just as well I was in bad shape with a knee that probably won't see me through the 10km run. If I was in good shape I would be livid. But nevertheless I have spent an enormous amount of money to get here, and I spent a lot of time trying to ensure everything was in order. Of course I did not know that I was to be deceived and then herded like a cow. I guess that is (my bit of) China for you. I don't think I will be back in this lifetime. I guess you were right, Gabrielle. I am not widely travelled having only being in the sum total of six countries, not counting the two I have lived in. Each of the other five had me wishing I could stay longer, and has wanting to go back. Not this one, baby.

Anyway I got out on the bike course yesterday, and I had a swim in the reservoir in the morning as well. I felt awful in the water, on the account of my fatigue. However once out on the bike, I met up with some Hong Kong guys, including two who had seem my Manawatu cycle top and come over for a chat. There were North Islanders now living in Hong Kong. The cycle course is undulating but still quite fast. The road surface is very smooth, and it is full of big sweeping bends. It will be technically tricky because we have to ride on the right, on an anti-clockwise course. This means cyclists will naturally drift to the wrong side of the road, meaning there could be passing or blocking penalties galore. There will be about 1000 athletes doing 3 laps, and even with the wave starts it will be rather too busy, making a relatively simple course quite technical.

Prior to getting out on the bike course, I watch the Men's elite race. I have to say it must suck when you are 21 years old and you come second in the world, but you can't beat your big brother. There can only be one thing worse than a Brownlee when you are an elite male triathlete. And that is two Brownlees. The brothers dominated wire-to-wire, with the younger finally finishing third in the race, but securing second in the Championship table. The kiwi men did not really challenge for the race win, and the first of them, young Ryan Sissons seems to be the heir-apparent in New Zealand.

They lead out the water...

Dominated on the bike...

And almost demolished the field on the run. Young Jonathan slipped to third in the end.

The parade of nations

Thursday, 8th September 2011. Now because I am some 3km from the race venue, and also far from the registration and other gathering venues I am reliant on the laid on bus services. They plan the bus departures an hour before we have to be there, and return an hour after the end of whatever it is. The trip is only 10 minutes and so a 30 minute activity turns into a 3-6 hour ordeal. One can get a taxi but they are hard to come by, and you sometimes end up at the wrong venue. You can't explain to the driver he is going the wrong way, so you have to sit tight till he gets there, find an interpreter and then, hopefully get back to your right destination.

When the Chinese have a problem, they solve it by throwing people at it. They have planned systems for everything. However when something happens that is not in the system plan, then lots of loud discussion ensues. An example is going to one of the other hotels to eat. Even though you pay cash, they still want to write your room number down. When you tell them you are from another hotel, you can see you have broken the system, and you may never get your dinner because there is an unfilled field on the form. So we learned just to make up a number.

The race organisers had enlisted the aid of hundreds of volunteers from the local universities. They could all speak a smattering of English, at least. They were dressed in red t-shirts and were located at every point where athletes might be faced with any other type of official or other person, e.g. taxi driver, hotel staff, race officials, and most importantly security, which were everywhere. These young volunteers were our saviours. I thank them all!

In the afternoon we headed for the Parade of Nations, and the opening ceremony. This was a tightly controlled operation. There was airport style security to get on the buses, to ensure that nothing untoward was going to get anywhere near the festivities.

The parade was great fun. The opening ceremony quite formal and pompous. But then, I suppose it was a grand occasion. The parade took place in the "little town" of Changpin. I had read somewhere that it had a population of 83,000. I was wrong - I missed a zero. It was 830,000.

The team photo, prior to the parade. I am third from left in the back row, standing coincidently next to the other Saffer in the Kiwi team.

The Kiwis on the march. Front centre is the team captain, and ironman legend, Tiare Lund. She was to take out her age group Gold. More on her later.

The lovely Shirley Roulston with my flag. Shirley and I have been racing each other for many years now. It was great to have her along, especially after her ordeals of the last couple of years. She is probably the toughest person I know in a sport filled with tough people.

A good crowd had come out to watch. In the foreground is a red-shirted volunteer

Security was everywhere.

Inside the closed stadium, for the formalities.

Arriving in Beijing

Well after having my original flight booking bumped 3 hours and then a further one hour delay I arrived in Beijing much later than expected. Of course it was another hour later based on Japan time too. My whole trip had been very carefully planned to only fly in the day, and arrive at my destination early afternoon and get to bed on time.

It took an hour to clear customs. Then the cattle herding began. The triathlon volunteer team intercepted me and told me to wait for the shuttle. This was good, as it was expected. They said the wait was 45 minutes. This is where I bumped into a rather tired looking Irish lass called Suzanne, sitting there rather forlornly next to bike box. A bit later her sister, Grainne appeared. But more on them later. As we were still inside the customs area, there was no food, although they did have bottled water. As more competitors dribbled in the wait seemed to get longer. This was my first experience of the China minute. It is a bit like the Microsoft minute. It has little bearing on reality. I imagined they were waiting for the bus to return. Not so. The buses were waiting, and they just wanted to fill them, but we didn't know that. After an hour or so we ganged up and said we were getting taxis. Suddenly, a miracle happened, and the shuttle was available.

Now we had to get out of the airport. The bus driver just leaned on the hooter and forced the gaps. There were cars and trucks weaving all over the road. You pass, left or right, even on the verge. It was like being inside a video game. I was glad we were in a big bus. It took over an hour to get the hotel.

This is where the first huge disappointment happened and it kinda ruined the whole trip, or so it seemed at this point. I had booked on the ITU (International Triathlon Union) race accommodation website and had selected the particular hotel where the rest of the team was staying. There were only "standard" rooms left at the time. I also cancelled my accommodation at a nearby hotel losing a fair sum of money. I had booked this independently and it was very near the team hotel. But in the end I had chosen to stay in the team hotel. However they had pulled the wool over our eyes and we were then shuttled off to hostel style accommodation some 7km away.

This was the little village we had to drive through on the way to our hotel. I can tell you at 2am it didn't look too appealing. What had we let ourselves in for? The two Irish lasses were finding this rather tough. I was too, but I tried to look brave.

By now it was 3am and my very carefully devised plan of only travelling by day had been messed up, first by Air New Zealand's booking system, then by JAL's flight delay, the triathlon committee's shuttle and now the hotel debacle. I was put in a room down a tiled corridor. As a result I could get no sleep day or night. I am a bad sleeper and had noise all day, and intermittently throughout the night has left me exhausted. I really needed the sleep to overcome the travel fatigue and all the walking I had done in Japan.

The entrance to corridor where my room was. Suddenly I knew where I was!

Sayonara Japan

Wednesday, 7th September, 2011. By now I was nearly dead on my feet, so after a good nights sleep and a leisurely breakfast, I had an hour or so to explore the Ginza shopping area near the hotel. I had this idea of "Ginza bargain" in my head. Well, the street was full of the likes of Louis Vitton and Alfred Dunhill. It was great to visit the Apple store in Tokyo too. The product range continues to impress!

Eat your heart out Kirsty. This is the Apple Store in Ginza. Four floors of Apple. Yummy!

Good to see the King protea still rules

Self portrait

Then it was a bus ride out to the airport in good time. I had to fly JAL to Beijing as it was part of what Air New Zealand gave me when I booked. Concerned about my bike I had phoned Air New Zealand prior to my booking and was told JAL would charge me about $60 extra for the bike and a my premium card was not valid with that airline. I accepted this. However on trying to check my bike in the wanted to charge me $240. Naturally I was not happy, and trying to negotiate my way out of it didn't work. I was disappointed as I had worked really hard to ensure all the bits and pieces fitted together into an economical trip price. When I went to pay however, at a separate counter they said the charge had been changed to $160, and so I didn't feel so bad as it was only $100 more than I expected.

I had a shower, some fried potato wedges and a beer and felt better immediately. Once boarded, we sat on the tarmac for more than an hour before we finally got underway.

Beijing awaits me, and I am a little apprehensive. No tour guide to take me through crowded subways, or pick up the cash falling from my pockets, but hey, let's see how it goes.

Tokyo

On the Tuesday we visited the Imperial Palace, the electronics distict, and one of the market style areas, and managed to fit in a visit to a temple as well. I was fairy trigger happy with my camera, shooting from the hip at times.

The electronics shops are amazing. From tiny stores with a floor area of about 1 by 2m selling only one type of component through to multi-floor computer shops, it seemed you could buy just about any gadget or electronic part here. A couple of years ago I built my own computer, which still runs like a dream. But I had to order almost all the parts over the internet and it took several weeks to sort it all out. Right here I could get everything I want all in one go. A geek's dream shop really! I bought a remote control for the camera, so no more timer countdowns for the Christmas family shot.

Tokyo is impressively big, of course. But the the buildings themselves don't stand out as very big or impressive compared to other large cities in the world. However the sheer number and sprawl of buildings made a very strong impression. I enjoy looking for patterns in city scapes, so following on some earlier practise in Auckland I put together a rather hasty collection of photos I call "Patterns in Tokyo".

In one of the parks in Tokyo.

The temple I visited.

Traditional Japanese architecture - a Pagoda

The crowded market alleys.

The large gardens at the Imperial Palace are mostly just lawn with sculptured pine trees. Only the gardener is allowed on the lawn.

I succumbed to the call for western food and enjoyed a MacDonalds burger. That night it was Spanish tappas for dinner, followed by a trip up a 50-odd story building to a pub with a view at the top. This was very impressive. I was even more impressed to find the cost of two beers at NZ$80 when the bill came. I missed the bit about the "house charge". The view however was totally worth it.

Kyoko and I presiding over the Tokyo city-scape at a super expensive bar. It was worth it.

Lake Kawaguchi

I hoped the morning would bring some clarity, but it was not to be.

The view from my room. There is an old Japanese legend that says only the righteous can see the mountain. It's great don't you think?

Nevertheless we hired some mountain bikes to ride around the lake. I enjoyed the little trip, but was a bit disappointed to see what was, until very recently a lovely resort town that had fallen into a state of disrepair. There was this fantastic paved walkway all the way around the lake but it was very overgrown with weeds.

Me, by the lake.

And the gorgeous Kyoko.

There were some amazing little places along the way, where they say good things can happen.

At one stage our path ran out. But you can see the kind of disrepair the town is in.

The confers in the background were called "Gold Crest" in South Africa. I could not grow enough of them for sale. Unfortunately I have not found them in New Zealand yet. The Japanese appreciate good things!

By the afternoon the roads were open again, so the bus trip back to Tokyo was a better option than the train. This time it to the luxurious Park Royal in Shiodome. Connections in the travel industry are obviously useful. By this time my feet were really starting to hurt. I had decided to travel in my Five Finger shoes, but despite their comfort, the pressure of my 17kg backpack was beginning to weigh on me.

By this time I was starting to tuck into the Japanese food, and enjoying it. Still I tried to make sure everything I was eating was cooked, and not too spicy. A dinner at an izakaya type of restaurant. This was also a great experience.

Tokyo - day one

[This, and the next few posts are somewhat delayed, but I am trying to catch up now. Many social networking, blogging and photo sites are banned in China. It's taken a while to get around this. Not that I did it on my own, there is a whole industry around it - one just has to work out how it works, and you play a cat and mouse game picking the right private network servers.]

As soon as I had checked into the hotel in Narita I hit the hotel pool, a decent 18m lane pool, for a few laps. Not too many of course as I was tired. I then headed up to the top of the Crown Plaza to enjoy some Japanese beer and cuisine.

I had a bad sleep, but I suppose that was to be expected. I was up early to sort my bags. I had already checked my bike and a few extra things at the airport luggage store but suddenly realised I still had way too much stuff for a few days in Japan. So I headed back to the airport and checked a second bag in, and waited for my rendezvous with Kyoko. She is a professional travel guide and takes groups around Japan and the world. This time she was just taking me. I got to know her on Facebook about four years ago, and so finally we got to meet.

We boarded a train bound for Tokyo, which is about an hour from Narita. Our plan was to take a bus from there to Lake Kawaguchi at the base of Mt Fuji. However a typhoon had dumped copious amounts of rain on parts of the country and this meant the roads were closed. We had to wait for information about the road closures so we headed for a nearby shopping area.

My first foray into a Tokyo shopping area while waiting to find out what was happening with the buses. There was a cacophony of sellers trying to outdo each other with megaphones. The photo doesn't capture the noise!

On the way back to the station there was more noise. Some 'right-wingers' where proclaiming something about Nippon being the preferred name for Japan.

It soon became clear that the roads to the mountain were closed for the day. However there was the option of a train. So somewhat delayed and facing a slightly longer trip we got back on the train. It was a good way to see the countryside. I had hoped for the same in the UK, but there the trains tend to ride inside banks and hedgerows not affording much of a view. In stark contrast this train went straight through the villages. For the most part the houses were 3 - 5 metres from the train, but at times the buildings were less than two metres and the occasional bay window or lean-to almost touched the carriages. Certainly the garden bushes did at times.

I was fascinated how all the houses I saw were built on the level, and each property was terraced so there was never any slope. I soon realised though, that this land once just consisted of rice paddies and they of course have to be level. Now much of the land was covered by houses, but any empty piece of land was used to grow rice, or vegetables, no matter how small. I don't think I saw a single lawn on the whole trip. The houses are small, and they take up most of each property, with just a narrow strip of scrubby weeds between houses.

This area had a larger than usual section under rice. You can see the effect of the recent heavy rainfall.

A typical vegetable patch

Soon we reached the tourist village at Lake Kawaguchi (no motorcycles or shoes to be seen however) at the base of Mt Fuji. The mountain was shrouded in cloud, so I would have to wait for a good view.

A delightful evening out at a local barbeque style restaurant followed. Hot pots in the centre of each table allowed diners to 'braai' their own meat and veggies. Great food, beer and company! A great experience.

Flight footnote

[These next few posts are somewhat delayed - once I got to China I was no longer allowed access to a number of websites including Blogger/Blogspot and Picasa Web for the photos. It has taken a while to circumvent the "Great Firewall of China". Now that I have done so, I have some catching up to do.]

I had a good flight, and I am now comfortable ensconced in my hotel in Narita. Getting a window seat is key for me, as I can cocoon myself against the wall, with my neck pillow, and head phones. I watched three movies, built a website (sorry it's been so slow LW), and wrote a blog post.

I joined Koru club just before I left as my Gold membership had expired. Not quite as good and pretty expensive, but by the time I've costed in the free meals, airport internet and reduced baggage charges it is half paid for. The rest of the cost can be put against pure convenience, quicker check-in, and priority service all around. And if my flights are ever delayed the sanctity of the lounge will be well worth it. You also get priority re-booking. And my year's subscription should see me through to my dream trip through Europe next year. But let's get through this one first, aye.

I like flying Air New Zealand too. No dramas with the bike (never again Malaysia Airlines). And the food was superb. I mean really, really good.

First impressions of Japan are amazing. I previously wrote in this blog that "London is intoxicating". Well, I have to say that Japan is sublime. I might just stay here, everyone is so polite. I wish people the world over would treat strangers with such respect. And then there is Sapporo beer. Somewhat stronger than the the old EnZed brown. Not to mention heated toilet seats, and rather sensible electronically managed toilet sanitation techniques. I have rarely felt happier.

On my way back from Cairns I had promised myself that this trip would be my last for a while. But like all good trips, they seem to be addictive. Hi, my name is Jack, and I am on the road again.

Rules about keeping a travel blog

The first rule about keeping a travel blog is not to get behind. Once you are behind, it seems to become too big a job, and you end up not doing anything. The second rule is to not get to hung up about typos and grammatical correctness. It just takes too long. The reader must take what they get, or nothing at all.

And the first blog of the trip is usually the longest and the hardest, because you have to set the scene. After that you can just hurl some snippets into the web-form, and away you go. So this is an attempt to get a head start on the blog. I know it will never get written once I am back in Palmerston North, so it has to be done enroute.

So right now, I am sitting on a plane between Auckland and Narita. Yep, I'm headed for the largest city in the world. Actually, I am enroute to Beijing to compete in a triathlon, but somehow the race seems incidental. I'm having a little adventure, and so far, so good!

I qualified for the World Age Group Triathlon Championships for the sprint distance in February at Kinloch, and then for the standard distance in Wellington a week after Ironman New Zealand. I chose the standard distance. I had high hopes of getting really fit over the winter and presenting myself in top condition in Beijing. After my fitness debacle in Edinburgh last year, I had promised I would only come back to this level when I was ready. However, it works like this, first you qualify to represent New Zealand, and shortly after that you are required to acknowledge your participation with Tri NZ. And therein is the start of a slippery slope. You need to pay a licence fee, and then a race entry fee, and then you need to book your flights early to get a good price, and then of course your accommodation, visa, pay for your immunisations, and so it goes. And all this happens in the 3 to 6 months before the race. By the time you realise your training has gone awry, its too late to get yourself into decent condition, and you are pretty much financially committed.

In early June, after a month of work distractions and the flu I found myself at Challenge Cairns, for my third ironman-distance event of the year. I'd had a great run over the previous six months, but I took it pretty easy and I walked most of the run leg. Despite that however, my knee flared up, in a repeat of what happened after the 2009 Challenge Wanaka. That time I could not run for eight months, but despite a number of specialists, x-rays and and MRI, it remained undiagnosed. It's peculiar as apart from these two times I have never even had a twinge.

This time it has not been nearly as bad and I have managed to get about 6-10km running in a week. Yes, I know not material for preparing for the speed event of your life. But hey, that's just the way it goes. And a little training always goes a long way.

So in some respects the race has become almost secondary. I'm on a trip. I booked everything myself after not finding joy with the TriNZ travel agent who couldn't meet any of my flight requirements and tried to sell me an accommodation package costing over $1000 more than what I could book at the same hotel myself, way more than double. There was also a team flight, but it leaves at night meaning I would be awake for a day, spend a night on a plane, suffer a rather inconvenient transit stop, and arrive in Beijing totally exhausted with less than a week to recover. No way Hosea, I fly gentleman's hours. I leave in the morning and arrive at my stop over in the afternoon, and then I go to bed. A few days later I repeat for the second part of the trip, and I arrive as fresh as a daisy. Almost. Well that's the plan anyway.

So I decided to stop over in Tokyo for 4 days. I can adjust to the timezone, and acclimatise to the heat with a lower risk of TD (work it out). Besides, Japan presents itself with a special and unique opportunity. So, I look forward to the next four days with enormous anticipation.