Japan - the Biru

The beer tourist is much like a scuba diver...

For most people, they only know the top of the ocean and are more than happy with playing on the surface. They get excited when a dolphin or other life breaks the surface, but that is as far as their interest goes. However, a scuba diver knows that there is a whole other wonder beneath the surface, a variety of life and experiences those on the surface will never know.

And such is the way of the beer tourist. My recent trip to Japan was no different.

The beer

Most will be familiar with the three main brands - Sapporo, Asahi & Kirin. I found Sapporo to be to my liking more than the other two, especially on draught in a hot yakitori bar. Kirin probably my least favourite, seemed to be more grainy than the others.

These main brands dominate the scene - similar to Lion & DB in NZ. The pale lager is pretty ubiquitous, though each also seem to throw in a black beer for colour, and with our timing, a seasonal amber autumn beer as well. But most unusual was the plethora of canned pale lager each brand seemed to promote. There was gold label, green label, tanrei (meaning "beauty", yeah right), and the bizarre promotion of beer with 70% malt (wow, lucky us!). And there was also the smallest can of beer I have ever seen, just 140ml!

But like scuba diver I am, it was the beers beneath the surface that I was more interested in...

Like the NZ craft beer industry at the moment, there was a lot of hops. The pick of these was the Baird Suruga Imperial IPA I had at the Nakameguro (Tokyo) Tasting Room. Lots of stewed fruit and caramel on the nose. A rich, slightly salty palate, with biscuitiness from the malt along with berries and melon. The type of complexity you would want from an IIPA. Another of note was the Swan Lake IPA.

But there were also a number of other interesting styles. Top of the list was the Ise Kadoya Kodai-mai (Ancient Rice) Ale at the famous Popeyes (Tokyo). A dark amber, I struggled for words to describe what was a very unique aroma and flavour - fruit, banana and spice, toffee and a salty palate. But most importantly, it was delicious.

It was interesting to note the number of Kolsch and Altbiers in the craft brewery ranges, obviously a popular style in Japan and ones we don't see so regularly in NZ. But there were also Espresso Stouts, Raunchbier, Black IPAs, a Pineapple Ale. A full list of the beers I tried is on ratebeer. The breweries that stood out were Bairds, Hidatakayama, Hitachino and Sankt Gallen.

The bars

Perhaps more impressive than the craft beer in Japan was the venues. And some of the venues were equally as hard to track down as the beer itself.

With the trip starting off with only one night in Osaka, I had already put down Beer Belly as place I wanted to visit. A tiny little bar down a small street in a quite inner city suburb, I wasn't sure we were in the right place onto we were pretty much on top of it. The bar just about took up half the space, with about 8 taps and 2 handpumps (including the local Minoh brewery). Some of the beer names were in english and some not, which was a problem for our two-and-a-half words of Japanese.

Of course, beer is the great interpreter, and it wasn't too long before the barman was translating the blackboard into english for me. A multi-talented barman he was too, when later we watched him cook and remove chips from a deep fryer with only a pair of chopsticks. With so much beer on offer, it was beer belly indeed!

It was also here that we witnessed the weird ritual that was repeated at nearly every other we visited. Before your pint is poured, the barman will run off a small amount from the tap into a bucket/tray first. I'm not sure what they think will be wrong with that first spurt, but they must go through a fair amount of the keg that way.

After a night away with Buddhist Monks (no beer there), we had 3 nights in Kyoto. My pre-trip research had shown a dearth of craft beer bars in Kyoto, so expectations were low. However, I had noted Tadg's Irish Bar as worthy of a visit. However, as someone else has also recently noted on ratebeer, the map posted there is wrong. So after not being able to locate it, I thought I would be clever and ask the concierge at our hotel to ring the bar and find out where it was for me. After she had called them up, she politely told me that the the name of the bar had in fact changed and gave me the right directions...and then sent me to the wrong place! I didn't know it at the time but I was much disappointed with The Gael, as it didn't have any of the exciting beers I had read on ratebeer. It became obvious when I cam home and worked it out, that somehow the friendly concierge had rung the wrong bar.

Nevertheless, what I did discover in Kyoto was that the large department stores stocked a great range of craft beers, and I managed to pick up many bottles from the micros to enjoy back in the room at the hotel. A similar theme played out over the next week, as we travelled through the Alps region without little prospect of any craft beer bars. However, I was able to pick up numerous bottles on our journey to enjoy along the way.

This break also allowed me to prepare for the tour-de-force that would Tokyo. I did have intentions to stop at the Baird Brewery on the way to Tokyo, but it worked out my eyes were bigger than my stomach and it was one thing I couldn't fit in. Armed with Dom's (from Hashigo Zake) must-do list of bars to visit, I had a busy couple of days ahead of me.

The first was potentially the best. A bit further out in Shimokitazawa - a cool suburb that was worth the visit on its own - we managed to track down the hard to find Ushitora bar(s). It was going to be an ongoing trend of being very difficult to find all these bars. Back to Ushitora, which was actually two bars. We were a bit early and had to wait until they opened at 5pm - nothing like a bit of enthusiasm. And the wait was worth it. In the bigger bar, there was a number of Japanese and US micros on tap. I decided to stick mostly to the local beers, the Yo-Ho Tokyo Black Porter on handpump being very memorable. We also struck up conversation with the barman who had just been at the recent Great Japan Beer Festival in Yokohama (unfortunately a couple of weeks before our trip) where one of his favourites was Tuatara APA.

The bar hop was very easy as we slipped next door to check out the second, even smaller, Ushitora bar. You could imagine my delight when I saw on the menu that they had all the Mikkeller Single Hop IPA series on tap. The Amarillo was my favourite, by then I am a bit of an Amarillo-fiend. We also had the barman try to teach us how to play with a Kendama, a Japanese folk toy, which consists of a wooden, hammer-like object with a ball connected to it by a string. We could hardly say a word to each other, but tried to take directions on how to complete tricks with it for a couple of hours.

The following night I had set aside to pay homage to the famous Popeyes. Popeyes must be one of the pre-eminent beer bars in the world, let alone Japan the beer bar in Japan. And after tracking it down in what seemed the middle of nowhere, it was obvious to see why. Proudly proclaiming 70 beers on tap (I wasn't able to verify them all, but I tried), many some the best that Japanese and American brewing has to offer. Table service from some of the happiest barman I think I have ever met. And the buzz of a full bar that just speaks people happy in their beer. For any beer nerd, there was just too much to choose from. But even that was made easier by the option of ordering a flight of ten 100ml tasters of any of the beers. And considering the strength of most of them, this wasn't a bad idea.

It was here that I was able to have the top rated beer in Japan - Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout - followed by Southern Tier's Farmer's Tan Imperial Pale Lager (one of my beers of the trip). There were also offerings from Stone, Rogue and Green Flash. This is a place you just want to come to every night.

Earlier that day I was able to find the Bairds Tasting Room in the suburb of Nakameguro (strangely located on the second floor of a Plaza building), to try and make up for not being able to visit the brewery. It was a bit early in the day, so lacked a bit of atmosphere, but I was able to sample a number of the Bairds beers - again I had too many choices, there must have been 20 on tap. All were really good, my favourite being the Suruga Bay IIPA and Bierre du Biwa, an ale made with the fruit of the loquat tree and fermented with a belgian yeast. And of course, I couldn't miss the chance to order the Tuatara Ardennes on tap - a bit of a treat.

Our last day, and I was able to stumble across the Bulldog as part of our wanderings. Disappointingly they weren't serving any of their tap beers during the day, but by a stroke of luck this forced me to order a Stone Dogfish Head Victory Saison Du Buff - another very memorable beer of the trip.

That night we had a pre-dinner drink at the Aldgate, another english-themed pub that was very popular with ex-pats. It's hard not to feel a little wrong sitting in an english pub when not in England, though the pint of Jever Pils and Baeron Rye helped lessen my doubt.

After dinner, I was very keen on tracking down Craftheads, renown for having rare American craft beer on tap. The beer isn't the only thing hard to find though, as we wandered around the streets of Shibuya trying to find the bar. After about 45 minutes I was about to give up, before checking down one last narrow street we finally stumbled across the stairs that led down to the bar. It was a very cool setting underground (nods to HZ), and the beer list was impressive as it was expensive. Stone, Three Floyds, Green Flash, Lost Abbey, Founders. At over $40 for some 300ml glasses, I kept to some of the more affordable options. Not that those disappointed. My last, the Southern Tier Pumking, was probably the beer of the trip and a great note to sign off on.

Footnote: For any one thinking of making a beer pilgrimage to Japan, I can highly recommend it. But start saving now, it was the must expensive place I have drunk in. With some of the 'cheaper' glasses of craft beer nearing $20 and tasters at $10, your wallet gets as much of a work out as your taste buds.

Japan - the observations

The fascinating part of visiting Japan where all the cultural observations to be had - from the impressive to the comical, and sometimes both at the same time. I thought I would just list them:

• This place is impressively clean. In our two weeks I can not remember seeing a piece of litter anyway. No rubbish, no food scraps, no graffiti. Why? Well, for starters I think that 'respect' is an inherent part of their cultural, and that extends to the environment around them. Littering just isn’t the done thing. Plus, we did see some signs warning of pretty high fines for littering - approximately $500! But they also have a lot of old men everywhere cleaning up the streets.
• Which brings me to another observation - Japan makes good use of its old people. With a horrifically aging population (apparently in the next 40 years or so, Japan's population will fall from 120m to just 60m!), rather than just pay the elderly a pension, it appears that they instead pay them to totter around the streets and parks raking, sweeping and cleaning. I don’t know if they like it, but I sure did like the cleanliness.
• The reducing population was also not surprising in that we hardly saw a pregnant women the whole trip.
• Clean and safe - taxis sit at the side of the road with their door wide open waiting for a customer.
• But apart from being clean and safe there was a real buzz to the Japanese cities and they looked like a cool place to live.
• The Japanese people themselves were surprisingly Western looking to me. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but walking around the cities, sometimes you could forget you were in Asia at all. Clothing and haircuts are very much in styles we are familiar with at home, and many times I would think I had spotted fellow tourists, only to see on closer inspection they were locals.
• Obviously style is very important. There is a lot of care taken in appearance and plenty of preening in front of any reflective surface, male or female, and just about everyone seems to have their own small mirror on them. I think it is all about trying to be individual, but sometimes this style is way OTT.
• Guys with school girl fetishes would be happy here - lots of short skirts and long white socks. It's not just a cliché.
• None of the clothes were going to fit us though. If I could manage to get just my foot through the leg, then the trouser would wrap around my thigh like a boa constrictor. The shoes were so narrow that there was hardly room for my big toe, let alone my whole foot. There isn't much to the Japanese, that's for sure.
• The small feet thing posed problems for me at temples and our accommodation, as I always struggled to find a pair of slippers that fit me and my heels were always hanging out the back.
• There is an obvious dislike for being short - which the majority of them are. Girls will wear the most ridiculous heels in the most ridiculous places (forest walk to heels anyone?).
• It is also strange how we are always trying to get a tan, when the Japanese seem to do everything they can to avoid it. Shade is very precious, we even saw people biking along with an umbrella attached.
• Generally a good looking people, but they nearly all have bad teeth. Anti-dentites obviously!
• Very friendly people - especially to a couple of mute foreigners.
• Scary experience walking into stores. One of the staff spots you are yells out some greeting, which then ripples through every other staff member who also yells the same greeting at you. They didn’t seem to expect any reply from you, so we just kept our heads down and charged through. Though was very disconcerting when you we in the shop, as every 2 seconds the same chanting starts up and you never know where to look.
• Surprisingly, it is a cash society. It was very rare that we could pay by credit card. The smallest sized note was also 1,000 yen, which as you went on became dangerously frivolous with, as it was nearly the equivalent of $20.
• There are powerlines everywhere. These people are obviously 'electricitiholics'.
• They all had these weird massively long flip top phones. They look about as long as a TV remote. I guess it is because their writing is vertical? Hardly saw an iPhone the whole trip, which I thought strange for such a technology driven country. But strangely, I can hardly recall one person actually talking on their mobile, it must be all texting.
• A Starbucks literally on every corner. And if it wasn't a Starbucks, it was a café trying to make itself look like a Starbucks.
• No one J-walks. Everybody waits for the green man, even on the smallest, unbusiest of streets.
• People biking everywhere, particularly down pedestrian malls.
• Everyone sleeps when travelling in on the train or bus. No matter what the time of day, we would look around and see everyone with their eyes closed, head slouched forwarded, and body swaying. And just when you started thinking that there must be a lot of missed stops, they would suddenly look up, nod to themselves, step up and walk off.
• Flannels - what is the obsession with these. Every old women must have a plethora of flannels at her disposal, and each seems to have their own purpose. There is: the wipe the sweat off your forehead and neck flannel; the drape around your neck to catch the sweat flannel; the pat the rain off you flannel; the drape across your lap to protect your trousers from the bottom of your bag when you sit flannel; there is probably the flannel to wrap your flannels!
• Old Japanese women will also, rather than just having one bag, will have a number of small bags drape all around their person.
• The whole time we were there we never saw a large group of women out together. A few couples, but most women out a bar would be part of a large male-dominated group. But plenty of large groups of men out together, all in their uniform dark suits.
• While very quiet most of the time, the Japanese excel at being excessive loud at other times. Particularly slurping, sniffing, or any other noises you can make with your throat or nose. Iris would hate it!
• We are clearly much bigger drinkers than the Japanese. Our hotels would often make a point of telling us which restaurants served alcohol. And if you watched Japanese drinking at a bar, you noticed that you would finish two pints to their one, if that (though they would seem more drunk).
• All the workmen wear jumpsuits just like out of the Bond movies.
• New Zealand seems to equal either "All Blacks" or "Bungy", as that is what we got every time we mentioned where we were from.
• Despite there not being much English spoke at all, there was much strange use of it. The baseball teams all had English names - like "Marlins". Many stores also had English names - like "Lawsons". And the one that topped it for me, watching the news which was completely in Japanese - spoken, subtitles, headings - until sports news came along with a great big "Sports" heading, and then continued completely in Japanese again.
• Yes, there is lots of bowing. Even the train conductor bows as he enters the carriage, then stops, turns and bows again before he leaves.

Sashimi, Wagyu & Wasp Larvae

As always, our trips are as much about food as they are about the travel. And Japan was a veritable feast of great cuisine. In many of the cases below, the pictures do most of the talking.

One of favourite meals was in fact one of the strangest and cheapest. On our first night, wandering the alleys and lanes of Osaka, we stumbled upon a long line of locals going up some stairs and into what we assumed was a restaurant. This looked like as good as any hint of good food, so we joined the queue. During our 20 minutes or so in the queue, we had to inform an attendant that there would be two of us dining. Eventually we were ushered through the door only to be introduced to a vending machine! Some confused looks and pointing finally to us to the realisation that we were to order our meal from the vending machine. The restaurant specialised in ramen, and from the vending machine you selected your order and then made a number of selections about how you wanted your ramen: how strong the flavour; how rich the soup; how much garlic, how much spring onion; and how much "special sauce". Taking our tickets from the vending machine, we were then ushered around the corner to a bizarre line of individual booths. As we sat down in our booths, a hatch opened up in front of us and our tickets were taken from us from a mysterious individual behind the hatch. At this stage, this was one of the weirdest eating experiences we had ever had. However, the reward came 10 or so minutes later, when the most amazing ramen ever was presented to us back through the hatch. The broth was the most incredibly flavoursome I have ever had, the noodles tender, with a deliciously soft boiled egg that we had also ordered. It was a strange experience sitting within your booth, but we were so engrossed in our ramen you forgot where you were.

This ramen was firmly imprinted on our mind for the rest of the trip. So it was pretty exciting when we noticed a familiar sign at the end of the trip when we were in Tokyo. Apparently it is a chain renown for its special ramen broth, and it certainly didn't disappoint when we had to visit for the second time.

However, equally amazing as this simple ramen were our numerous Kaiseki experiences. Kaiseki is a multi-course banquet served at the traditional inns as part of your accommodation. There are many dishes using local ingredients, some intricate and visually stunning.

Our initial introduction to Kaiseki was at Koyasan at the monastery we stayed in. The monks are all completely vegan, and the idea is that you eat as they do, but they also seemed to have a liking for very bitter food, which literally become difficult to swallow towards the end.

However, we had the first of many amazing Kaiseki experiences at our accommodation in Takayama. This very unassumingly looking inn presented us with one of the more memorable dining experiences of our life. Arriving to the dining hall in the evening (which we had to ourselves), a massive feast was awaiting us. It was some of the most amazing meals of our life.

An equally impressive Kaiseki was served up to us at our awesome inn in Tsumago in the Kiso Valley. There were lots of local specialties - including wasp larvae, which was actually quite tasty. Dish after dish came out over the night, and by the time the green tea sponge came out, we were stuffed! (You have to excuse the robe they insisted we dine in).

You might be suspecting already that I might have forgone my pescetarianism during this trip. The opportunity to taste some of the finest beef in the world was something I didn't think I should miss - and the Wagyu certainly didn't disappoint.

Our first experience came completely by chance. We were dining out in Kyoto and had already finished off a very nice meal and were enjoying the last of our drinks when a sizzling plate was whisked past our table. Our interest peaked, we tried to ask the waitress what it was without much success. So we just communicated that we would like to order the same to find out. Soon after, our own sizzling plate came to the table, with only four thin slices of beef. But oh my, this was beef like no other. It was so tender that it basically just melted when you put it in your mouth. And the taste was so rich and juicy. It was a true marvel. Of course, it was only when we tried to work out our bill at the end of the night that we found out it must have been approximately $80 for just those four slices! As we left, we also managed to find out what we had from one of the chefs - top grade Nagano Wagyu beef.

We then had Wagyu served up in a number of Kaiseki meals, all amazing, if not quite amazing as that first one. It was pretty obvious where the rich flavour came from when seeing the beef in butcher shops. It is so marbled with fat that some pieces look nearly completely white. The other great Wagyu experience came in one of the more unlikely of places. Walking down one of the streets in Takayama we came across a hole-in-the-way joint selling little strips of Hida Wagyu, another of the top grades. Sure beats the pie cart!

Of course, not to be outdone was some of the incredible seafood we had. The two most special seafood meals we had were from restaurants in two of the fish markets. The first was in Kanazawa where we were able to track down a restaurant famed for its Kaisen-don (sashimi on a bowl of rice). It must have come with nearly 20 different pieces of seafood - including raw squid and raw prawn and the famed Kanazawa snow crab - and even topped with gold flakes!

The most memorable fish market though was the Tsukiji market in Tokyo, astounding and depressing at the same time for the shear quantity of fish. A little guiltily we did go to one of the sushi joints that surround the market. By now we had worked out the best way to choose your restaurant, select the one with the longest queue. It took about 30 minutes to work our way through the queue, ordering before we went in. The sashimi certainly didn't disappoint - you can't help but understand why the Japanese are fanatical about their fish.

One of the more unusual market snacks we had was the Takoyaki, a specialty in Osaka. They are spherical balls of boiled octopus cooked in a soft and chewy batter. They are a little unusual to eat, especially when you try to eat them when they haven't cooled enough and you have to loll it in your mouth to try and stop them burning it. There was definitely a bit of an art to making them - the cook having to roll them as they cook to give them the shape and ensure all the batter is cooked - but I can't see them making the Weight Watchers recommended snack list.

Back on the noodle front, the udon and the soba wasn't outdone by the ramen. Though we were slow converts to the popular dish of cold soba. We saw it a couple of times on the menu and couldn't piece together how it could be appetising, until we were offered by a friendly fellow diner to try some why eating at an Izakaya bar. Coming with a dipping sauce, we were surprised how tasty it was and made sure we ordered it when we saw it next.

One thing we learnt was that there is an art to eating your noodles, and in particular, the all important slurp. There seemed to be number of techniques: there is the quick fire short slurps; the long hard slurp finishing with a snap (a favourite of old men); and of course, the polite tentative slurp of the tourists. But the longer you stay, the more comfortable you get with the slurp and start giving it a bit more of a go. Though, I could never quite work out when some of the Japanese men slurped when they were eating something that didn't even have noodles or a sauce to slurp!

On the subject of noodles, this brings us to the obvious need for chopsticks, at which Anna was initially hopeless a using. For days it looked like she was trying to pick up her food with a couple of tooth picks. She just could not get it right, despite all the coaching by myself. It wasn't until about a week in to the trip when an old chef showed her what to do (exactly the same thing that I had been showing her!) that she picked it up. Though we were both still well short of the expertise shown from the locals around us. The first time we had to try and eat a grilled mackerel with chopsticks we made a bit of a mess of it, only to look across from us to see a guy deftly picking out the meat like it was picking up peas. But we did get better, and by the end of the trip using chopsticks was like second nature.

Of course, blogging about Japanese cuisine wouldn't be complete without referencing the ridiculous displays of plastic food outside most of the restaurants. I'm not too sure the objective of these, as they do look ridiculous and in no way appetising. The most unappetising we saw was the spaghetti bolognese below, though anything brown looked more like the thing that comes at the end of your digestion rather than something you want at the start of it. The lengths some of the models went to was quite amusing though, we liked the glass of milk shown pouring into the iced coffee below!

Like a lot of things in Japan, the cuisine could range from the sublime to the somewhat bizarre. I enjoyed both.

The Land of the Rising Sun

The funniest thing that happened before we left on our trip for 2 weeks to Japan was the number of times people would ask "why are you going there?" I wouldn't have thought it was

such a strange choice for a destination, and it certainly didn't prove to be. When we first decided on Japan, we didn't have a whole lot of ideas about what we were going to do, but as we planned, there was more and more we wanted to squeeze into our 2 weeks. We would have happily had more time, if our wallet could have handled it!

There has ended up being so much to write about, I've split my blog out into separate posts on:

Food

Observations

Beer

And of course the photos here.

Our trip started off with one night in Osaka. As a tourist destination Osaka didn't have a lot of promise, but on reflection it would have been our favourite big city. And without many big attractions, we got to just enjoy our first day in a very foreign city, wandering in and taking in all the difference. The first thing that struck us was the cleanliness. Everything is just spotless. In our whole of 2 weeks, I cannot recall once seeing a piece of litter, food or even cigarette butt (and they're all smoking) on the street. No tagging either. It was quite refreshing, if maybe a little sterile. But you also had a feeling of safeness you'd never get in a Western city.

It didn't take me long to make my first big faux pas. We were only dropping our bags off at our hotel and we used the toilet on the ground floor. This was my first introduction to a Japanese toilet, which come complete with a control board something akin to Captain Kirk's command chair on the USS Enterprise. Faced with this I wasn't quite sure how to flush the bloody toilet. Somewhat unwisely, I took to just randomly hitting the buttons hoping for the right result. Well, I got a result alright. Suddenly, a rod started to extend itself from the back of the toilet. A second later I'm taking evasive action as a jet of water flies past my head and hits the opposite door a meter behind me and about 5 feet up! Worst off all, I couldn't work out how to turn it off. I ended up having to close the lid and then must have finally struck the right button to turn it off. There was water everywhere. (Obviously I had mistakenly hit the bidet button, also after I had increased the water pressure to maximum. But anybody who uses a jet of water that powerful to clean their backside must have serious problems!)

Slinking off we went about exploring Osaka. Some places were strangely empty and quiet. But then others would be a throng of people. We also discovered that Japanese cities have a whole underground - literally. In the centre, just about any street you are walking along will likely have another street beneath - complete with shops, restaurants, offices, etc. Topside, the Japanese city is an eclectic mix of box-like buildings of varying heights and ages, all lined up next to each other, squeezing into the block and battling for space (of which there is none).

We also found our way to the first of many markets - which every city seems to have. Here we had our first delicious sushi experience (sashimi to be more exact, served by who must have been Andre the Giant's Japanese twin brother) and the fried octopus balls that Osaka is famous for (yes, they are as weird as they sound).

Later that day we made out way to the tallest building Osaka and the viewing deck to watch the sunset, but when the real lights of the city come on. On the way though, we past some weird Michael Jackson tribute 'thing' going on in the plaza. It seemed that is was an open event to come along dressed in your best Wacko Jacko outfit and bring out your best King of Pop dance moves in front of the crowd. It was a shame we didn't get the invite...

Later that night we just wandered around the nightlife district, taking great amusement from the fashion on show and had the best Ramen ever (more in that in the Food post). It was a great first day, and I felt like if we were going home the next day already the experience was worth it.

However, the next day we weren't going home, but were instead taking a 2 hour train ride to Koyasan, a mountain plateau, home to a famous Buddhist cemetery and a number of Monasteries you can stay the night at, which is what we were doing. The cemetery was very cool - an eerie mix of tall cedars, long shadows, and overgrown stone statues and monuments - that you easily lost yourself in for a couple of hours.

You could also lose yourself in the Monastery we were staying in. Lots of twists ands turns, and numerous different slippers you were suppose to wear and not wear in certain places. It was hard to keep tract. The small number of young monks run the Monastery, being very polite and precise. Though I don't think the life of a monk is one for us. The vegan meals were extremely bitter, and I don't think Anna could have repeated the 6am wake up for prayers.

The next day we travelled back and made our way to Kyoto, where we had 3 nights. Kyoto is all about the temple experience.We must have visited about 15 in the time we were there. Japanese travel from all over the visit these temples, though we seemed quite lucky in that they did not seem overly busy. It seemed that we had timed our trip just prior to when the Fall colours really came out. Which meant that we probably didn't see the temples in all their splendour, but at least we got to see them! The temples were pretty impressive with their ornate buildings and manicured gardens. Very zen. Though, by the end of the 3 days we were ready to put the tick alongside "temples".

We also managed a day trip out to discover the Saga District in Northwest Kyoto, maybe our highlight and not even mentioned by the Lonely Planet. There was also the Gion District, which was a strange mix of Parnell and Fort Street. Looked wealthy and high end, but had an underlying dodgy feel to it. At night, there were lots of young guys standing around in suits, seemingly standing guard outside their 'establishment', and attractive young girls tarted up and strutting about amongst the predominately businessmen crowd.

From Kyoto we started our tiki tour through the Japanese Alps on our way through to Tokyo. Our first stop was Kanazawa, which lies on the coast of the Sea of Japan. Anna had booked us to stay in our very own traditional Japanese townhouse right in the middle of the historical district. It was amazing, little nooks and crannies, stairwells and rooms (though it should be noted that when Anna booked it she thought the price was for both of us and not per person!). Kanazawa itself was an awesome little city as well. It has one of the most famous gardens in all of Japan, which was quite spectacular. There was also a Castle Park, where a friendly old man talked us through its history and enthusiastically told us how Pohutukawas were his favourite tree after visiting New Zealand. We also stumbled across an art gallery with some fun exhibits.

We also had our first public bath experience. We trotted off that night to the neighbourhood bath, not quite sure what it was all about. The baths are split into male and female, though the desk of old woman who managed it looked into both changing rooms. We certainly stuck out, being about 100 years younger than everyone else in there, and our skin a 100 shades lighter. Tentatively watching others, you pick up that you are meant to wash ourselves first before jumping in the baths. It was a little unnerving though being obviously scrutinised to see if you were washing yourself enough. After I had removed the dirt, sweat and about 3 years worth of skin growth, I dared to jump into one of the baths. After jumping in the bath I wished I had hat skin back, as the water was scorching! It is then a little odd just sitting there with others in the bath, being stared at. I was fortunate in that it was very quiet on the men's side, Anna later told me that the women would keep on saying something and all start laughing. A bit of fun nevertheless.

After our bath we headed out to try and find dinner. We passed a place not far from our townhouse that from the sounds of things was pretty busy and would be suit us. Stumbling in we found ourselves in a small smoky Izakaya bar with about 40 men (no women) drinking and eating, who all stopped and turned to look at us. Before we had a chance to think twice, two spots at the bar we were for us and we were ushered in. Struck up a bit of 'conversation' with the guy next to me. When I say conversation, that pretty much means some acknowledgement of "rugby" and "bungy" once they learn we are from New Zealand (it seems that is what we are known for). He also tried to start buying rounds for us, but by the time I had finished each of my beers he seemed to have hardly started - but he seemed to be getting drunk nonetheless (the Japanese really can't handle their alcohol).

On the other side of us, the guy let us try his cold soba noodles. Something we might not have tried otherwise, but after that something we tried to track down. It ended up being a fun night. I think Anna being in there was a bit of a novelty. The draught Sapporo tasted good (especially after that bath) and grilled skewers tasted good - though we got home smelling like a grill ourselves.

The next day we were heading into the Alps proper and the World Heritage village of Shirakawa-go. The area experiences some of the heaviest snow in all of Japan and so the houses are constructed to withstand these elements, with steeply-sided thatched roofs. Despite the practical uses, for us tourists they are just pretty, and you have the opportunity to stay in one of these 'Gassho'. And the benefit of staying is that the tourist buses all head out at 5pm and you nearly have the place to yourself (well, at least until the next day's buses arrive at 7.30am).

Getting there was quite spectacular as well, the Japanese not taking mountains as any obstacle in taking the straightest line to their destination. Why they need this highway through what is a very sparsely populated area I am not sure, but it was hard not to be impressed, especially by one of the tunnels that was 11.4km long! The shame of State Highway 1...

After our night in our little Gassho, falling asleep to the sound of the river and sweating it out on the heated floor, we moved onto the city of Takayama. Takayama contained a very relaxed historical district that was just pleasant to wander amongst the dark wood paneled houses. We just enjoyed the vibe of this city and enjoyed wandering around.

Takayama was also a good spot for which to visit Kamakochi National Park, which we did the next day. The day before we thought we had cleverly organised at the Takayama Tourist Office to be able to drop our bags off at the tourist office of the small Onsen (spa) town we were staying at on the fringe of the National Park before our bus continued on. It was a tight thing, as we had to run the bags across to the office before the bus carried on. When I went to drop the bags off the old man in the office has absolutely no English whatsoever. After more time than we could afford to take and Anna holding the bus up across the road, I finally organised it all (or I hoped I had!) and we could continue on do our hike.

We had decided to take the Shin-hotaka Cable Car halfway up one side a range and then hike up over the 2385m pass before descending down into the main valley of the National Park on the other wise. Though when we tried to buy one way tickets at the Cable Car the guy looked at us like we were crazy because we didn't have enough kit with us for an ascent of Everest. This was even after we showed him our hiking boots and bag with jackets, food and water. It was only a 4 hour hike for gods sake! But us we saw later on, the Japanese don't do such things by halves. Even for a short stroll along a riverbed they seem to be prepared with enough tramping gear for the onset of Armageddon.

Though for most in the cable car, that seemed to be sum total of their adventure for the day. And did they enjoy it! Though the bi they seemed to enjoy the most was when they could wave at the people going back down in the reverse car.

Leaving the cable car, it was about a 1 hour steep hike up to the top of the ridge. Which doesn't sound much, but when you are setting off at an altitude above 2000m already, it's not your usually stroll up the hill. The 6km down the other side was easier on the lungs, but much harder on the legs. A real quad burner! Again it was very steep with some tricky scrambles. We had hardly seem anyone else, as just when we were thinking we were very intrepid, we meet a group of grandmas going the other way! There was some very difficult climbing ahead of them so it says a lot for the health of the elderly over there.

By the time we got to the bottom we were quite knackered. We had enough energy to walk around Kamikochi and along the river. It would have been nice to have more time (and drink more of the water - some of the finest I have ever tasted), but we were pretty keen on getting back to our accommodation and to the onsens! Some of the pools were ridiculously hot, but the setting was pretty awesome. Even if it was still hard to get used to wandering around the pools naked (they are gender split).

The next day we woke up to it absolutely pissing down. Which was great, as our day composed of traveling to our next destination. And we were especially it hadn't happened the day before as it would have ruined our plans for the hike. The first part was a bus trip to Matsumoto, through some ridiculous gorges when putting a road shouldn't have even been possible. We had a couple of hours in Matsumoto before our train left, which was perfect to go check out the Matsumoto Castle. We took up the complimentary guide, I think a group of elderly who use it to practice their English. Found out plenty more than we would have otherwise, especially that that he needed to clean his teeth more!

Our next nights were in the Kiso Valley before heading to Tokyo. The two towns we were staying in - Tsumago and Magome - were old posts on the Nakasendo, a old highway from from the 17th century, and the towns have been kept in much of the same condition they would have been then. In Tsumago we were staying in a beautiful Ryoken (Japanese Inn) with the nicest hosts with an interesting background. None of the properties in Tsumago can be leased, sold or demolished. So when the current owner's grandfather passed away, he had to give up his banking career in Italy to come back and run the Ryoken, otherwise it would have had to be handed over to the government. Along with us, he had Spanish and Italian quests that night, and could speak to them all.

The next day it was sunny again, which was perfect as we had planned to hike the 8km between Tsumago and Magome (we actually got the bus to Magome with our gear and walked back) - a mix of the old Nakasendo highway and woodland paths. You were also meant to take a bell with you to warm off bears, but disappointingly we never saw one. Halfway along the hike we were ushered into a rest stop by some elderly Japanese walkers. The rest stop came complete with old man who served green tea and snacks (boiled peanuts and some delicious unknown berries). The Japanese group seem to be having a hoot trying to converse with us. It seemed we were fated to be but of the jokes of 70 year olds on this trip.

Arriving back in Tsumago we thought we had plenty of time for some lunch before catching the bus back. Only to get to the bus stop after taking our time to find out that it left back for Magome at 2.27pm and not 2.47pm as Anna had thought. Ended up being an expensive $50 mistake to get the taxi as that was the last bus of the day.

Where Tsumago had been nestled into a valley (and shrouded in mist on the day we arrived), Magome was perched down a hillside with a steep cobblestone street running up it. This was to be our last night at an Inn-type accommodation, and while we looking forward to having some variety from the provided for dinners and breakfasts (as good as they were), they did make things easy. But we had a special treat on our last night - the hosts gave lessons in traditional Kiso dance. We were the only gringos and there were no instructions in English, so we were limited to "left" and "right" and a lot of pointing at feet. It was all very amusing as we tried to join in the dance around the fire. I am sure there was plenty of context given as part of the instructions, but it was all lost on us.

We were now nearing the end of the trip, with just out 3 nights in Tokyo left. To get there were getting the chance to take the bullet train (Shinkansen) from Nagano to Tokyo. You don't really get the feel on traveling - except that the train seems to sway up and down rather and side to side - but making the 350km in around 1hr40min, it obviously is. But at $170 each, it wasn't cheap. Got me thinking that if we had such a service from Auckland to Wellington, would cheap-arse Kiwis actually use it (despite the ease at which it makes traveling). Disappointingly, didn't get the chance to see Mt Fuji, but did get to see the clouds that surround Mt Fuji.

Tokyo is a very cosmopolitan city. A much larger mix of Westerners than we had seen in any other cities, with obviously many living and working in the city. I felt Tokyo could have been world city, lacing the character we had observed though the rest of Japan. In retrospect I would have been happy to spend that time elsewhere.

Though there were a few gems. We took a trip out to the suburb of Shimokitazawa, only because there was a pub I wanted to visit. But the area itself proved to be very cool, lots of little clothes shops and cafes, and surprisingly for a Japanese city, low rise buildings.

We tripped around the main Tokyo areas, a ridiculous number of department stores and shops. There would be a giant Zara (or replace with name of any other department store of your choice) and then four blocks down he road there would be another Zara. There was some pretty stunning architecture though, you can't ignore the modernity that Tokyo exudes.

One experience not to miss in Tokyo is a visit to the Tsukiji Fish Market. This place is huge - blocks and blocks and blocks of fish. There was a lot of fish! I guess when you are feeding a city with a population of 12m fish eaters, you need to. But wandering around this place you can't help but feel that the fish is fucked! Of course, we probably didn't help by going to one of the small sushi restaurants alongside the market. But when in Rome...

Our last day and we had a little rain again. We were very lucky as the time of year can see a lot of rain, but we had great weather for most of the trip. There was one funny episode before we left. Walking around the Harajuku district, I noticed a bunch of Japanese guys taking weird close up photos along the street. I started talking to one of them to find out they w

ere celebrating the 5 year release of this camera they were using. All a bit weird. But then they ask if they can take photos of me, and next thing I know there is a line up of then snapping away, making me look like some kind of celeb wandering the streets of Tokyo!

And that was pretty much that. An awesome couple of weeks that gave us the taste for wanting to come back. We'd have to start saving though, it would be one of the most expensive places we have visited. At one stage it seemed as if we were taking out 50,000 yen a day, the equivalent of $850! We also probably need to study up on our Japanese a bit more, though we did well with our 2 and a half words. Except Anna of course, who made a habit of walking up to people and saying "arigato" ("goodbye").

Sayonara

UK/Europe Trip

The pics

Part Five – London’s Burning

We ‘only’ had a week in London, so we were going to make the most of it. This started as soon as we got into London on Friday night. Quickly dropping off our gear back in Putney, we meet up with Todd & Nic for dinner before heading out to meet some of the crew on the other side of town in Shoreditch. Somehow, after a few drinks at a pub, we found ourselves in cabs heading to a pub called the Birdcage. Sold to us as a real East London pub, it didn’t disappoint on that front. It was karaoke night and it was a big hit with the locals. I’m not sure we fitted in – conversation was pretty tough as I could hardly understand them – but they were certainly having a good time. The night carried on, as they do, and Anna, Kellie and I found ourselves coming home in a taxi at 6am in the morning!

Not surprisingly Saturday was a bit slow. We managed to pull ourselves out of bed eventually, as we were meeting at the pub to watch the All Blacks game. It was also meant to be a big night, but after the night before that was no longer on the cards, but we still manage to stay up until 11pm before crawling off to a much needed sleep.

Well rested (or at least better rested), we organised what we thought would be a lazy Sunday at another old favourite – The White Horse on Parsons Green. But again we had forgot what a Sunday Session in London can turn into. Lunch and drinks turns into lunch and lots of drinks, and we didn’t leave The White Horse until 10pm. Well, the others left, as I went to the toilet and found that everyone had left. I had to follow them back to Todd & Nic’s on my lonesome! Sensibly, being a Sunday of course, we decided to have a few more drinks at Todd & Nic’s, and didn’t end up leaving until 2am. That was OK for us, we didn’t have to go to work the next day. But we were woken up in the Monday by the first lot of hate texts we got that week…

We had talked up making the most of everyday we had before we left. But in the interests of lasting the week, we called a truce and let everyone have the night off. And it was the Great British Beer Festival the next night, and I wanted to make sure I was in form for that. It also meant that I could feel good enough to go for a few runs during the week, along the old stomping group of the Thames path.

To say that it was just by chance that the Great British Beer festival was on when we were in London would obviously be a big fat lie. I decided I wanted to go on the first night to make sure I had a good chance of getting to the ales I wanted. And the strategy didn’t disappoint, getting to try the Champion Beer of Britain – the Rudgate Ruby Mild – and it didn’t disappoint! Nor did “Britain’s Biggest Bratwurst. Jabs and I had gone in search of the sausages we saw people eating and were about to order the 9” Bratwursts when we saw them throw onto the grill these massive 20” Bratwursts. It was a challenge too good to refuse and we promptly changed our order. Si got a bit of a shock when we arrived back, and it probably took us a good half an hour to finish them. And being the healthy event that is a beer festival, we had already devoured a few bags of pork scratchings and pork pies. It was definitely our night. Earlier in the evening someone had given us a good of vouchers for free beers, and then just as we were thinking of earning, someone came over and gave us £20 worth of vouchers. Score!

After a bit of shopping on the Wednesday, it was one last trip to the Bricklayers Arms and a few Timothy Taylors. Jabs took me out for lunch in Soho on Thursday, and Thursday night we had organised for our final dinner at the Queen Adelaide. True to form, London put on a stunning last night for us, stunningly wet. It was a massive downpour all night, which acted as a lock in. We only left the pub by midnight, and sensibly again stop in at Todd & Nic’s on the way home. A 2am finish again, and again hate texts in the morning. But we knew everyone would miss us, just maybe not their livers…

Our livers were certainly looking forward to a holiday, though we were not looking forward to ours ending. Being in London again was awesome, and wandering around Putney (and even riding the tube) just felt like being home. It’s just so much fun!

Part Four – Oop North

Flying back late in Gatwick, we had one of those London experiences we had forgotten about. Making good time out of the plan and picking up our bags, we made it to the train platform 2.5 seconds after the doors of the train closed, only to then find out the next train isn’t for another half an hour. Oh joy.

Though the next day, we experienced the other side, as we caught the train up to Leeds to spend a few days with James & Petra. What would be a painful 4 hour drive in New Zealand is an easy 2 hour trip on the train. That evening we headed into Leeds to visit some cools pubs and have a traditional Yorkshire curry. The curry was good, but not as impressive as the naan, which were massive and served on the end of large hooks. And we only got the normal size - the “family size” was big enough to provide overhead shelter for a small scout group.

The next day the English summer finally caught up with us good and proper – it rained all day. Which put a bit of a damper on our excursion into the Yorkshire Dales. Nevermind, that just meant more pub time and less walking time. This included visiting James & Petra’s wedding venue – The Craven Arms pub, with a medieval barn attached to the rear. The pub also has its own local microbrewery, which is going to brew a special beer for the wedding. It’s enough to make me want to get married there!

The next day we drove up to the Lakes District – via some select pubs of course – to stay our final night with Petra’s parents, who live in an awesome renovated slate house at the end of the very remote Kentmere Valley. It is a classic Lake District valley – apparently it is the setting of Postman Pat – and was a real treat. And Petra’s parent’s place was no typical cottage, her old man is a technie-nerd. There were three TVs in the house, including the Den with its projector screen. We even had our own ensuite room about the garage – it was like staying in a B&B. Not only that, but Petra’s mum treated us to a three-course meal as we did a taste off of the wines James & Petra were trialing for the wedding (Kiwi Sav and Argentinean Red).

The weather improved for our final day up north. Enough for me to go for a run with James around the valley. Hard work for someone who has spent the last 3 weeks drinking and eating his way around the Czech Republic and Croatia. Especially as James is a serious runner, competing in National and European meetings and running 5kms in around 14min20secs. He took it easy on me.

It was an awesome few days catching up with James & Petra – and a shame we didn’t have more time.

Part Three - Becalmed in Croatia

Arriving a bit later than planned – we first had to make our way through the onerous Croatian customs. That was sarcastic by the way…kids we running back and through the custom desks and I don’t think the customs officer actually looked down at my passport. We then made our way to the marina Therapy was berthed at, just north of Dubrovnik.

Unfortunately, our first day was stuck in the marina as the winds were too strong. However, we set out the next day for a sail and to rendezvous with Si & Kellie later that night. However, departing the marina was full of drama. The marina was situated up a long river hemmed in by steep cliffs on both sides. Being in a river, manoeuvring the boat needs to take into account both the river flow as well as the wind. We were in a tight spot and it was tricky work getting ourselves out. It was squeezing out of our berth that we lost control of the boat momentarily and we knocked, of all things, the very expensive looking lacquered speedboat. And the speedboat belonging to the gin palace berthed next to it, which itself had Russian owners, absent at the time. Marty had to head back to purvey the damage with the staff (who had just been polishing the speedboat that morning), but it was so small to be of little consequence. But that didn’t stop us ribbing Marty that it had to be wary of Russian Mafia and concrete gumboots.

We eventually took off to anchor up in one of the many sheltered coves and for the first of many swim and lunches. That night we anchored outside Cavtat, a handy location to the Dubrovnik airport, to pick up Si & Kellie. The next day we headed up North, planning to island hop our way up to Korcula. Si & Kellie quickly made themselves at home – perhaps getting too comfortable. Their pasty white London skin wasn’t quite prepared and for the rest of the week Si wore a permanent white singlet.

Over the next week we had awesome weather. For a couple of hours one afternoon we saw some cloud, but apart from that it was only blue sky in all directions. The only downside was a distinct lack of wind. We got a decent sail a couple of times, but most of the time was spent under motor. But the anchoring spots made it all worth it. Horseshoe bays that were so calm it was sometimes difficult to remember you were on a boat. And crystal clear water, that perfect temperature to be both refreshing and comfortable. So we settled into the rhythm of swim-beer-swim-eat-beer-swim-beer. Si especially took to this and quickly claimed the title of “Sloth”.

Our turnaround point was Korcula – an awesome walled-town (on the island of Korcula) occupying the end of a peninsula. We wandered the tight streets one late afternoon and enjoyed some cocktails at a bar that sat up the top of a turret. There was a ladder to get to the top, and your drinks arrived by a pulley system.

We made our back with more of the same, spotting a couple of dolphins for a change of scene. As Si & Kellie’s last day arrived we had to head into the Dubrovnik marina again, as the non-existent winds turned in a strong gale – a weird symmetry with the start of the week. This was Si & Kellie’s first visit to a marina, as we had anchored every night they had been on the boat. We all headed into Dubrovnik before Si & Kellie’s flight, for a couple of last beers sitting at the bars on the rocks outside Dubrovnik’s walls. For Anna and I, the next day was our last as well. Just enough time to head out for one last swim-eat-beer before catching out flight back to London.

Being on a boat in Croatia was a much different experience to Southern France. The lack of sailing weather is noticeable, but this is more than offset by the awesome anchoring spots that make marinas hardly necessary. It was a very relaxing 10 days – something we probably needed after our last week in London rather than before. But more of that to come…

Part Two – Czech’ing it out

Though we flew into Prague Airport, that was as close as we got, as we had already been to Prague many years ago. This trip was about touring a bit of the Czech countryside and, surprise surprise, visit some fine Czech Breweries with the Good Beer Guide: Czech Republic in hand.

It was certainly an interesting trip. Straight away it was clear it was a strange country, where you are offered a choice between a Mercedes-Benz and a Ford Focus as your rental car – pretty easy choice that! And the roads themselves were very interesting. There seems to two trucks to every car on the road, the result being that the roads themselves are in pretty bad shape. The right-hand lanes of the motorways seem to be one endless series of potholes.

The Czech drivers themselves seem to be of two breeds. One breed seems to be perfectly comfortable driving 60km in a 90km zone. The other seems so concerned to check that their steering is working, they have to change lanes or overtake every 2 seconds, and seem intent on reading the maker’s name on the screws that are holding your license plate to the bumper!

But out in the countryside it is very scenic, with bright green rolling hills studded by attractive little towns (that’s where there isn’t some hulk of a Communist concrete block towering above them). The Czech countryside reminded me of how intensive livestock farming and forestry have ruined much of NZ’s countryside. The Czech people seem to take advantage of this as well – with plenty of hikers and cyclists about. Though this is in sharp contract with the rest of their lifestyle – which involves a lot of smoking (especially in pubs and restaurants, which is difficult getting used to again) and not what you would call the healthiest of cuisine’s. Stodge, stodge and more stodge. I love a dumpling as much as the next man, but after 5 days of them it was admittedly getting a bit tough. Not that it seems to be slowing down reproduction, there seemed to be newborn babies everywhere.

And there is also lots of water. Every town seems to have to have a pond or lake of some description – most of them dammed. You wouldn’t swim in them though. Perhaps they are used to farm Carp, which is on the menu everywhere, but has to be the top nomination for the most flavourless fish around.

So our first destination was Telc in South Moravia – a beautiful Renaissance town that was probably the pick of our trip. We had a room overlooking the town square and I got my first taste of some good Czech beer (Bernard) – though what stunned me more than anything was the price, about $1.80 for a pint!

The next day we criss-crossed our way across southern Czech Republic, arriving at Ceske Budejovice for lunch and the famous Budejovicky Budvar – famous for being the original “Budweiser”. I was able to sample two of their beers that are not as commonly available – the krouzkovany lezak (which is “yeast beer”, where a dose of young beer – fresh yeast and wort – is added after lagering), and the svetle vycepni (which is a lighter version of their Premium beer).

After lunch we drove through South Bohemia up to our destination of Plzen (we skipped the awesome Ceske Krumlov, as once again we visited it on a previous trip), stopping by at a couple of breweries, and though their beers were OK, not worth a special mention. Plzen itself is nice enough (it is a big student city), but the main reason it was our destination was because it is home to Pilsner Urquell Brewery, and also the opportunity to taste their amazing kvasnicovy (yeast beer again). The citrus sweetness combined with the yeasty dryness to make it very moreish.

After walking around the grounds of Pilsner Urquell Brewery the next morning, we made our way out to the small town of Dobrany just outside Plzen to lunch at the Modra Hvezda brewpub. This was a real find, as we sat outside in the sunshine and enjoyed one of our better meals on our trip. They had a range of four different beers on tap, and I couldn’t find too many faults with any of them, the tmavy (dark lager) and a stronger bock particularly good. Anna also had her first taste of what we saw a lot of people drinking – Birell, a 0% alcohol beer. The Czech Republic is a zero alcohol level for driving, and these Czechs enjoy their beer so much (they have the highest beer consumption per person in the world), they knock back this 0% beer in large amounts. I guess is was OK for what it was – but I was happy that Anna was doing the driving...

From Dobrany we were just making the relatively short trip to Chodova to the brewery/hotel/restaurant/spa, where we were both staying and taking in a massage and beer bath. Yes, that’s right, a beer bath! In a warm, brick-lined cellar, a steel tub-for-two was filled with a 50:50 mix of mineral water and a specially brewed low-alcohol bathing beer, at a temperature of 34 degrees. Admittedly it was a bit weird. The water was pretty murky and full of little bits, which I am assuming is some of the mash. But it was hard not to enjoy when you just sit back and get passed glasses of a light Chodovar lager. But then things got weirder…

After 30 minutes we were ushered out of the bath – the woman didn’t seem fussed that we were naked – and led to another even warmer room where we were swaddled with blankets and told to lie down on a chaise-lounge. It didn’t take long to get a big sweat on – and I guess that is the point, a bit like a poor man’s sauna – in the midst of the sweet malt and spicy hop aroma rising from your skin. It was difficult to decide whether to relax or laugh.

After that experience, later that night we ate at the Chodovar restaurant, which is set within lagering caves from the 12th century. While the setting was cool, our fellow diners were not. It seemed that a couple of busloads of pushy German tourists had also turned up without reservations and intent on squeezing in on our table. Even Anna’s evil-eye didn’t seem to work on them.

The next day we drove around the northwest Bohemia, famous for its spa towns. They are bizarre affairs, very opulent, but now also very touristy. The towns were made popular because of their mineral waters, which people were prescribed for various ailments. Now it seems tourists buy the ridiculous porcelain mugs things and drink the sulphury tasting water, the irony of also smoking a cigarette lost on many of them. We could only take so much of these spa towns, so decided to pop over the border into Germany for lunch – Bavaria no less, so it would have definitely been rude not to – and found the very nice town of Waldsassen. I relief at eating a meal not involving goulash or dumplings could probably be heard back in the Czech Republic as we enjoyed schnitzel (of course) and venison, as well as a couple of local brews, including a delicious Hefeweizen.

Back across the border and we only had a short trip to Loket – where we would be spending our last night. This fairy-tale town, perched on a mountain ridge with a river that serpentines it way around it on three sides, is also known for featuring in Casino Royale. We stayed at the brewpub/hotel, where their one beer was one of the best of the trip.

Our last day brought something new on this trip – rain. Until then, we had had beautifully warm and sunny days. Driving back towards the airport and with time to peruse the Good Beer Guide, I found one last brewpub that I wanted to visit – and it was only 15 minutes from the airport. And what a great call that was, as it had the best beers of the trip. The Chyne beers were absolutely stunning, my favourite was their cerny (dark lager), but the potomavy (half-dark) and svetle (light) were equally good. It was with much regret that I had to pull myself away – and even more so when we got to the airport, only to discover that our flight had been delayed for three hours.

It was a very enjoyable 5 days in the Czech Republic. There might not have been the wow factor, but a very enjoyable place to travel around. It was only the cuisine that we tired of; you can only take so much stodge – even me. And on the beer front there were some real finds. Though not typically beer styles I warm to, when they are brewed with such skill as were on offer here, it is hard not to be impressed by the bittersweet qualities of the variety of Czech lagers. A fine education for a Yeastie Boy.

Part One – London’s Calling

Woohoo, a month away. Surely the best way to use a year’s worth of annual leave. Though of course it starts with the dreaded long haul all the way to Heathrow. And on the first leg it seemed it was going so well.

We were on one of the new Air NZ planes to San Francisco. They definitely have more legroom, and the seats seem that little bit wider. And in what seemed like a full flight, we also seemed be fortunate enough to have the one spare seat next to us. Of course, we should have known that this would balance out somewhere else…

We had a four-hour stop over in San Francisco. Not enough time to head into the city, but just enough to track down the Anchor Brewery Bar and have their very good brews. So despite getting no sleep on the first leg, I was feeling good about the second leg to London. That was until we boarded our Virgin Atlantic flight. It had the old style seats, which we had forgotten how little they “recline”, staffed by what seemed a select sample of the Chav population out of Essex. And then…my personal entertainment system didn’t work. And with the flight completely full, I couldn’t move anywhere else, and the staff didn’t seemed to care anyway. So I had to go the whole sleepless 12 hours to London with nothing to do.

Of course, at least I had the treats of London awaiting us. Deb meet us at the airport and from there it was back onto the tube (with my old Oyster card which still had money on it!) and into Putney. After a couple of groggy showers, down we headed to The Bricklayers Arms to meet up with all the crew. The Bricklayers was still as good as I remembered it, all the Timothy Taylors range, plus a couple of additional handpulls they have installed for more guests. But I only had eyes for the Dark Mild – and it wasn’t disappointing.

It only took a few pints to throw off the grogginess and it was like old times again in London. Later on we wandered down the road to another old haunt – Putney Tandoori – where I was greeted like a long lost son (though the stroking of my hair seemed a little weird!). Somehow Anna and I found ourselves back at Todd & Nic’s, going strong until 1.30am when we finally thought we should try and get some sleep (I had gone some 60 hours without any by then) – and sleep we did.

Sunday was meant to be a lazy afternoon up at The Telegraph – a pub up in Putney Heath that had been the talk of the town ever since I left. It calls itself a “country pub in London”, and that is a pretty accurate description. I’m not sure how it happened, but next thing I know it is 11pm and I am only just leaving the Coat and Badge after an all day Sunday session. Not a bad start of the holiday!

We only had one more day before we flew out to the Czech Republic, so we dragged everyone out again for a drink after work before Anna and I went out to dinner with Deb and Carl to Gordon Ramsey’s Murano. For those of you who know (or care) about these things, Murano is headed by Gordon Ramsey’s protégé Angela Hartnett. I think this is the third time we have eaten at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant, and it didn’t disappoint, either the palate or the wallet. At £215, it’s not cheap, especially in NZ dollars, where it converts to $lots!

It had been a great first weekend in London to kick the holiday off – though didn’t help to shrug off the affects of jetlag – and it was great catching up with everyone. Next stop, the Pilsners of the Czech Republic…

Aussie Trip

Here are some pics from our two week trip in Australia at the beginning of December.
Pics
We flew into Melbourne for two days there - and I will always begrudge Qantas the two hour delay that robbed me of at an awesome beer pub we went to on the first night - also catching up with Vicki. We then picked up our hire car and spent three days driving along the Great Ocean Road - where the scenery was spectacular, and the small towns quiet (we were just beating the summer holidays rush). We then had two days in the Grampians National Park, where we did a couple of hikes.

We then crossed over to South Australia - destination the wine regions around Adelaide. First was a couple of nights in the Barossa, and a lot of money spent on food and wine. We then had a couple of nights in the more picturesque McLaren Vale, where we stayed in an old chapel. We had our last two days in Adelaide - where we showed our typical knack of bringing rain to parched places, they had their first full day of rain for over a year.

It was a great couple of weeks - saw some awesome scenery and spent far too much money. We haven't missed the flies though - they drive you bonkers. Kangaroos and koalas are meant to be the national animals, but it should be flies and magpies!