Adam does Arashiyama

I was stoked! Adam came to Japan after telling me when I left he'd be here to visit within a year...so I took him to the most beautiful place I've seen in Japan to date: Arashiyama - "Storm Mountain", in Kyoto.

It's a little touristy in the main centre (if you can call it a centre) but still much prettier compared to the stinky, crowded greyness of Osaka.

I got us hopelessly lost trying to find everything and anything, but we ended up at a cute cafe which served Japanese food (as opposed to American style "humbug" (hamburg(er), or pasta etc.

What was it? I don't know. Was it nice? ...yeeeah..? Did Adam like it? ...yep...
It was grapefruit flavoured something, probably rice based (you can make a gelatinous substance from rice). The green tea was lush though.

So after walking around in circles, we decided to ask this friendly Rickshaw driver to take us to Tenryu-ji Temple, which is what I wanted to show Adam. Oh yeah, and it was just around the corner. Nevermind.

It looks like we are in a giant wheelchair.

Poor bugger, lugging us heavies around. He was so sweaty, but was awesome and spoke English to us the whole time telling us about the place.

Finally we got to what I wanted to show Adam; the Sagano bamboo forest which lies outside of Tenryu-ji temple.

It is stunning.

This is a shot of the famous zen garden in the temple, but you really have to see it to feel it.

Some shots of the grounds:

Then we went to an Izakaya (Japan style pub/restaurant) and got served by this guy.

Temmabashi in Osaka, which reminds me of home.

Has lots of trees down the side of the river.

See ya mate!!!

We are not in control

It would be nice to say the events of late in my life have been great, but its been a rocky road these last few months.

Firstly, as many of you know, I was hospitalised in June/July as it was discovered that I had two ovarian tumours...of which I have made a complete recovery, fertility and sanity intact. (I promise to write about the unique experience of having a major operation in The Land of the Rising Sun).

THEN...my home in New Zealand gets demolished, and ends up looking like some drunken giant stumbled through the city. What the hell? Nothing ever happens in CHCH. But now it will never be the same again.

My mother realised there was an earthquake as she was being thrown out of her bed. My sister had a large set of drawers fall on top of her. Jennas house continues to develop cracks in the aftershocks. Gina had no water for days. My grandparents tin shed was demolished by a neighbours chimney (they didn't realise this until days after - which shows how loud the quake must have been to mask that sound).

No one died - of which I am grateful. But people I know and love will continue to pick up the pieces for months.

I know this is cliche, but I think rebuilding my body, in the case of my operation, has helped me to gain a new appreciation of life. Things like - being mobile, sleeping and walking around fancy free were things that were taken from me, for a short time. I'll never take those things for granted again - I have a huge scar to remind me not to.

Maybe rebuilding Christchuch will have a similar result in peoples lives. Structures will be built　to better withstand these disasters. People will be kinder, and appreciate the peaceful normality of life. There will be many a scar to remind us all of how mortal we are.

I had two tumours, and didn't have a spread of cancer. Christchurch had a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, and no one died.

The mind boggles!