Day 1 – London to Tokyo 

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Japan is notorious for its high attention to detail and design, and it’s logical and well thought out efficiency and it definitely delivers on that. 

Arriving in Tokyo my experience couldn’t have been more pleasant from the word go. From being greeted off the plane with a chorus of “Konichiwa, arragatou” and when asking for directions, being chaperoned politely to my destination. 
I picked up my JR rail pass, a week long pass which can be used on any JR train across Japan and I hopped onto the train to the centre of Tokyo. It had been a long journey and little sleep on the plane due to a screaming baby for 9 of the 12 hours on my flight made it worse but the journey was made better by a Japanese couple who persevered to converse with me eager to learn more about me and where I came from. They invited me to lunch and if I hadn’t being so tired and planning to meet my family, I most certainly would have accepted but I thanked them well and when it came to say goodbye we bowed and left. 

I walked from the Tokyo station to the hotel and dumped my bags down. The rooms weren’t ready yet and my family weren’t there so changed my clothes and picked up my SIM card I had had delivered to the hotel. I called my brother and parents who coincidentally were at the Tokyo station (where I had just come from) so I planned to meet them back there. 

Before I left, I used the facilities and had my first experience of a Japanese toilet. I know it’s not normal to talk about toilets but when it comes to Japan, they toilets are definitely a point for talking about. The heated seat was a welcome surprise along with a trickle which comes on as soon as you sit down to mask the sound of any business you may be doing personally. And of course there is a bidet and shower part which you can adjust the temperature and pressure of. And finally when it comes to flush, you close the lid and the toilet flushes, cleans itself and the lid reopens ready for the next person. 

I left the hotel but before I could get anywhere, I needed some money. It hadn’t occurred to me until this point to get any as it hadn’t cost me a cent to get to where I was now. So I went for a wander in search for a bank which turned out harder than I expected and when I finally found it, it didn’t accept foreign cards. I searched google and apparently this is a common problem in Japan. I was getting to the point of delirium and tiredness and all I wanted was to see my family so I called them, told the my dilemma and I planned to jump in a taxi and get them to pay for me when I arrived. 

I finally met the family and we went for a short walk around the Imperial Palace Gardens. The palace, unfortunately, was closed for the day so we just took in the serenity of the gardens and wandered back to our hotel. 

My room was quaint, about the size of a double bed with a small aisle and I was glad I wasn’t sharing with anyone else. I had a quick, much needed, shower and nap before meeting back with everyone for dinner. We didn’t wander far but found a cute little restaurant which served skewers tapas style and we ate well. My first taste of proper Japanese food and I’m already In my element. 

We didn’t stay up long after dinner. It was most definitely time for bed!  

Japanese Christmas 2016

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Merry Christmas from Japan


If any of you know, I don’t see my family much despite being very close to them. It’s been 4 years since we last were all together so this year for Christmas is a special one. 
We decided to all meet in Japan. With my parents coming from the Caribbean, my brothers coming from Australia and myself and another brother coming from the UK, there wasn’t any really logical place to go and Japan seemed as good as any. 

We will be travelling round the south and travelling up the north to go skiing so keep an eye out for my updates on Christmas in Japan 2016! 

Day Ten – Panjim

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The medication I have been on for my war wounds have been giving me strange nightmares. That, coupled with searing pain and the oncoming of what felt to be the cursed Delhi belly, gave me an unpleasant nights sleep and it took a while to wake both Sam and I from our slumber.

We headed to the coffee shop for breakfast which was difficult for us both to get down due to the oncoming illness. We inquired about day trips to the Dudhsagar Falls but unfortunately due to the poor weather, trips were not operating. So we decided to spend the day doing a walking tour of Panjim taking in the Fountainhas and the Portuguese heritage. 

We walked down to the Goan state library, and as true geographers, we scanned the old maps and weather charts of India. If you’re looking for a modern, air conditioned building in Goa, the library is your place. In contrast the Goan state Museum next door was housed by an old derelict building and it felt instead like entering someone’s old home filled with random junk that they had collected over the years. What struck me about the artefacts was that they looked as if they came from hundreds of years prior but instead were dated within the last 60 years. 

We walked through “downtown” Panjim to find the cinema and thought we would treat ourselves to a relax with some popcorn. Bollywood may have been an option but the only [English] movie showing was The Shallows, a modernised Jaws-like movie starring Blake Lively. In all honesty, I probably could have gone on living my life having never seen it or cared to have seen it but for a good two hours, it entertained. 

We hailed a rickshaw, surprisingly our first one since coming to India, and headed back to the hostel just in time for the rains to pour down once again. So we chilled in the coffee lounge with our books. And I finally got to use some good internet to update this page! 


The night set in an I soon forgot I was in India and could have been anywhere in the world. A German guy started to talk to us to try and improve his English and although it was difficult to understand him he was doing well considering he had only been learning since he arrived in India. Two other guys, a German (Jonathon) and a Dutch (Mike) came to join us with some Old Monk, a fairly pungent rum which is made in India. We got chatting to them and decided to meet them out at the only bar in the city, Cafe Mojos. 

We went for dinner at a great place recommended by our hostel and despite the Delhi belly style symptoms we had vaguely been having, we wolfed down a delicious meal. 

We headed to Cafe Mojos, an interesting bar designed to look like and Irish bar but with all the waitstaff dresses in lederhosen. On top of that, the music was so loud, you would have thought you were at your local townie disco on a Friday night. But we went upstairs, ordered some beers (ginger ale for me to settle my stomach) and settled in. Not before long two guys (Sameer and Rashid) asked us if we wanted to play table football and we did beating them 3 times in a row. 

Mike and Jonathon arrived with Jay (South Korean), Melissa (German), Millie and Brad (Engish) while we’re beating Sameer and Rashid and soon we were being beaten by Mike and Jonathon. We had a good night listening to music and drinking. We even tried Cashew Fenny, a local drink made from fermented cashews. When you drink it, it tastes similar and gives you a similar experience to rice wine. We did not like it. 

We left and wandered home playing frisbee in the quiet and eerie streets of Panjim. The contrast between the day and the night was interesting to see and the streets which only a few hours earlier had been filled with bustling people were now empty except for the bats and the Strays.

We settled into bed a little giddy and happy from a good day in Panjim. 

Day Nine – Palolem to Panjim

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We headed down to breakfast (late again) to find that everything had been eaten. So I asked Ron if we could get some more food. The breakfast lady brought me a basket of eggs which she had been hiding especially for me, something she had done everyday we had been there. And when we managed to procure some bread she started telling me that I bring good fortune, bringing food to her and her family. And from then on, I was called “daughter” by her. 
The sun was hot today. Hotter than I have felt in a long time. So we took advantage of it and headed to the beach to sunbathe. 15 minutes of it and I was done. Without the ability to go into the sea to cool myself, it was unbearably hot but Sam enjoyed it for a while while I read my book in the shade. 
Sam had been having trouble with her neck and it had been causing her sleepless nights so while I went to grab some lunch she has a neck and head massage. 
We had spoken to Ron, the hostel manager, the day before about getting up to Panjim and he said that he would be driving up himself so he offered us a lift. Christof, a German guy we met, also took advantage of the free ride. So the four of us bundled into the tiny Tata. 

It was a nice ride through southern Goa with good company and good conversation and far more comfortable than the three buses we would have taken otherwise. We dropped Christof off in Margao and continued on to Panjim. 


Arriving in Panjim, our hostel was a quirky coffee shop with a nice reading corner. We were instead staying in a small building down the road in our own private room. It was nice and interesting as it was an original Portuguese building. But it was dingy and a little mouldy. I suppose that’s what you get with originality. We showered to get the sand off and headed out to grab a quick coffee before heading to dinner. 

Unfortunately arriving on a Sunday wasn’t ideal as most of the restaurants we had earmarked were closed. But we found a lovely bar restaurant with a rooftop terrace where we enjoyed a few beers and some food looking out over the river and the busy Panjim streets below. 

We headed back to the hostel where I quickly got to bed while Sam returned to the coffee shop to read her book. Exhaustion has been a common theme of this trip.