Photos from japan

Kurashiki

Queue to change tickets after typhoon knocked out the Shinkansen

We got away from osaka and this was the only area where trains were still going, except they were travelling at speed of snail

Osaka in comparison, I can see why my son chris yearns to get out of town and see green. He is starting to appreciate nz

Got to catch next plane now, been up 24 hours and now another 12 hour flight to heathrow then a flight to stockholm. I may not wake up for several days after this.

Stockholm

I'm in stockholm. I spent most of the day waiting in hospital waiting rooms so I didn't do all that much. The good news is that I don't have a blood clot in my leg. My leg is still swollen and sore though so I can't walk around as much as I'd like.

So today here are a few pictures from around the hotel.

A walk down by the water, Sodermalm this morning.

View from the hotel

This evening we went to the Vasa museum. The Vasa is a ship which sank after sailing 1500 metres on its maiden voyage. It was pulled out of the water and reconstructed 300 years later. It is amazing, the ships from 'pirates of the Caribbean ' are based on the Vasa.

According to the guide, the ship was top heavy with 2 rows of cannon. It had too little ballast and a puff of wind pushed it over a bit and water poured through the cannon portholes. The amazing thing was that the two sides of the ship were built by two groups of builders. One group was Dutch  the other Swedish. Apparently each group was using a different size inch measurement so the right side of the ship was bigger. That didn't help when the ship listed to port.

It must have been very embarrassing, it was a Sunday and the whole town had come out to see the launching if the kings new ship.

In japan

I forgot I had a blog!
I haven't had much access to wifi either since I left New Zealand either. I am in japan and have been to the beach and down a small part of a pilgrims path, then I sprained my ankle falling off a bike (japanese bikes are longer than ours and a bit unwieldy). So I have been a bit out of action for a few days, luckily we have friends in osaka who came and rescued me as I couldn't walk.

It is very hot here and although it is supposed to be autumn I don't recommend a visit in early september. Go in November for the autumn leaves or winter which is snowy and beautiful, but don't go to japan in summer it is humid and hot. A typhoon is heading towards us tomorrow too.

Shirahama beach and onsen area south of osaka.

A 6cm long cicada on the path.

Kumamoto kodo pilgrims trail