2 weeks in Cambodia: Phnom Penh

It's been a long time since I last wrote a blog post and I have so much to catch up on that it's hard to know where to begin again. The last few months have gone something like this: 

Home to England -> Kyoto for exams -> Cambodia -> Tokyo, Hiroshima & Kyoto -> England again -> settling back into Kyoto for second semester. 

Since I don't really need to write about England, and definitely don't need to write about my exams, Cambodia is the next place to pick up from. I flew down there at the beginning of Spring Break to join my friend Imogen for 2 weeks. I've never been to South East Asia before, and never done the whole travelling/living out of a hostel deal. To tell the truth, I've always been a bit scared of the idea because I have weirdly low energy levels and get exhausted from a weekend away from home let alone months of travelling. But since I was in Asia already, and could pop over relatively easy for just 2 weeks, it felt like a perfect opportunity to get a small taste for it. 

Since I was a newbie and my friend is more of a seasoned traveller I let her do almost all of the organising (very unnatural for me!) and she came up with a schedule for visiting the 3 top destinations in Cambodia - Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, and Siem Reap. 

Phnom Penh:

Monks at the riverside

Part of the Royal Palace

Stupa at the Royal Palace

Veggie spring rolls with peanut butter sauce & vegan sushi

Beginning in Phnom Penh is a hell of a way to start Cambodia. The capital city actually seemed to have quite a bad reputation between other travellers - it's extremely busy, dusty, there's a lot of very visible poverty and it doesn't have the same beautiful scenery as some of Cambodia's other destinations. But, perhaps because I was full of energy and everything was so new to me, I thought it was amazing. Since me and Imogen were arriving separately, my first task was to get a Tuk Tuk from the airport to our hostel. It was the perfect way to get thrown into the hectic city, and I spend a half-terrified half-fascinated hour watching street vendors, people carrying ladders on motorbikes, stray cats and dogs and absolutely 0 road rules. 

Once I had found Imogen and got settled we were free to explore the city for a couple of days. Highlights were spotting Theravada monks everywhere (noticeably different to Japanese monks because of the deep orange robes) and seeing the grounds of the Royal Palace where the King of Cambodia still lives. The difference in wealth between locals and travellers is no more clear than in entry costs for places like the palace - for foreigners, $10, for Cambodians, 4000 riel which is $1. 

My friend is vegan and so I also had the first of many absolutely delicious vegan meals during our stay. Imogen and I both definitely like our food and whilst fancy meals shouldn't really be part of the traveller budget we used the "treat yourself" excuse a few too many times.

Human skulls inside the Stupa at the Killing Fields (not own photo)

A trip to Phnom Penh should include a visit to see the Killing Fields (Choeung Ek) about 10 miles outside of the city. This is one of the sites where the communist Khmer Rouge regime, under leader Pol Pot, mass murdered Cambodians back in the 70s (it's estimated that overall, he killed about 20% of the countries population). Pol Pot was a name I had come across before, and I knew that Cambodia had a 'dark history' of some sort, but as always it's hard for these things to sink in until you're made to sit and look at the evidence for yourself. 

The fields have been turned into a Buddhist memorial site, and visitors walk around the mass graves at their own pace whilst listening to an audio guide which tells you exactly what happened. The whole thing was explained in horrific detail but with great sensitivity. What struct me most is just how recent this all was; it's weird to think that my parents were alive and around my age whilst it was all happening. But then again, I suppose my future kids will look back at some of the stuff happening in the world today and find it bizarre that myself and the rest of the world just... kept on going with normal life. I was also sad to learn that, even once the regime itself was displaced, it took so many more years for the people responsible to be properly condemned. Pol Pot himself was allowed to live in comfort, only being sentenced to house arrest 20 years later in 1997, and then dying peacefully a year later.

One more thing which struck me during the visit was the stark separation between tourists and locals. The site was surrounded by a high barbed wire fence, which a child and an old man were begging outside of at one point. Whilst we all walked around plugged into our audio guides, feeling sorry for this poor country with an awful history, we simultaneously ignored the poverty going on literally next to us. It was horribly ironic and I'm still trying to process exactly how I feel about it. Anyway, it's something worth reading more about and definitely an important place to visit whilst you're in Cambodia, since it's still dealing with the consequences today. 

I was originally going to do just one post about Cambodia but I seem to have written more than enough about Phnom Penh alone, so I guess this will be split into 3 parts. Next up, the beaches of Sihanoukville.

An Alternative Tea Ceremony

The tea ceremony is an iconic part of Japanese culture. It's known for its discipline and attention to every tiny detail; where and how the guests sit, the order in which items are served, and even the angle at which you handle the equipment are all important aspects. As you might expect, experiencing a full tea ceremony performed by a professional in Japan would be a pricey event. I assumed that the odd cup of matcha (powdered green tea) in a temple or family home was as close as I was going to get to the real thing, but I was in luck one day!

We were walking down the Kamogawa river near my house when we spotted an old man making tea and chatting with a couple of internationals. It looked like they were having a lot of fun, so after hovering awkwardly nearby trying to build up the courage we finally went and asked what they were up to and if we could join. We were warmly welcomed by the host and spent a nice hour learning about what he was up to so far from the tea houses of Kyoto.

The man who made us tea is called Masahito Tame. He went through all the traditional training to become a tea master, practised with the main organisation (that feels like the wrong word but I'm not sure what else to call it??) but eventually left to find his own way. This is because he has some issues with how the tea ceremony is performed nowadays; he said it has lost some of the original spirit, which emerged around the Kamakura period but was largely established by the monk Zen no Rikkyu in the late Muromachi period. According to Masahito, the life of a tea master should roughly be as follows:

- train strictly under a master for the first 15 years or so

- begin to develop your own style whilst still learning for another 15 years or so

- finally branch off to fully establish your own style

(Some of this might have been lost in translation, he only spoke Japanese so I was relying on a friend to translate. I hope I've got the general pattern right at least!)

Instead, he thinks that tea-masters today keep following the strict rules and never move on to the later stages of experimentation/refining of ones own style. So now he moves around Kamogawa and sets up his own little portable tea house to drink with whoever passes by. He has no fixed schedule, going where he wants when he wants, and there are 'no rules for guests'. He seemed to have a lot of fun making and experimenting with the tea that he served, and we were lucky enough to try 3 rounds of it.

The last 2 rounds were very traditional matcha tea - warm, shared between guests from 1 clay bowl (which he'd sculpted himself) and prepared with a bamboo whisk. But the first round was a special one which he called 'Surprise Tea'. Cold matcha, shaken with ice in a cocktail shaker then poured into these very strange almost pilsner shaped glasses which he pulled out from what looked like a treasure chest. You can see all of the equipment in the photo above. Definitely not a typical part of the tea ceremony. Giving some sort of sweet is part of the ritual (to counteract the bitterness of the tea), so he also served us dried persimmon rolled in soy flour and sesame - I politely ate it even though I'm still kind of fussy about the texture of Japanese sweets. It was a really relaxed atmosphere, and interesting to see how he incorporated his own ideas whilst keeping to the essential structure of the ceremony.

On his Facebook page he calls himself a 'monk and a beggar' - he didn't ask us for any money but of course after such a lovely experience we were more than willing to contribute. Because he's setting up on public property he isn't technically allowed to be there, so he said he sometimes gets moved on by the Kyoto police; frustrating after hours of setting up but I suppose it makes the whole thing more exciting and spontaneous. Luck isn't on my side all the time in Japan, but in terms of stumbling across random events like this I do seem to have very very good fortune.

His Twitter, in case anyone in Kyoto wants to follow where he's planning to be: https://twitter.com/tamemasahito

Demachi Masugata Shotengai // My New Home ^_^

When I moved house almost 2 weeks ago I had no idea know what to expect from my new local area. I knew its location on the map, I knew that it was fairly central in Kyoto, and that was all that mattered to me. Turns out it was a wonderful choice for more than just the location. My favourite thing about living here has been a total surprise; the Demachi shopping arcade just outside my house. 

I think this place is an absolute gem in Kyoto. I pass through it every morning on my way to Kamogawa river, and it feels like I'm being transported back in time. Each shop has its speciality; fruit & veg, tofu, mochi, fish, tempura, beans, all sorts. Instead of heading to the nearest supermarket  for everything I need, I find myself dashing back and forth between the shops buying things one by one and slowly trying to make myself familiar with each one.

Actually, this is a much cheaper way to shop in Japan. For fruit & veg in particular, the supermarkets have unbelievably high standards and only buy/sell the very best products for crazy high prices. I think that this sucks for the farmers, the consumers and the environment. Demachi market on the other hand doesn't have to meet these standards and buys straight from the producers; life suddenly becomes much cheaper, you still get great food, and you're helping to keep the wonderful local community alive. Win win win. 

But aside from the cheaper cost, I just love the atmosphere in this street. The shop-owners are always popping out to chat to each other and recognise many of the faces that go past. I live in Brighton back in the UK which is known for being full of creativity and vibrancy, but I've never experienced anywhere with a community quite like here. I guess lots of places used to be like this, when we didn't have convenience and department stores at our disposal. It's awesome that Demachi market keeps doing what it's doing and I feel very happy to be a small part of it. 

Demachi Shotengai actually inspired the setting for a well-loved Japanese anime called Tamako Market. It follows the adventures of a girl whose family owns a mochi (rice cake) shop there. I'm 2 episodes in, and although it might be aimed at an audience a *little* bit younger than me, it's still really adorable and easy to watch. I love spotting parts which I recognise from real life - you can see below the flag bunting and the 100yen shop which are both real features. 

Anyway, rather than brushing off the anime as childish pop-culture the market seems to have embraced it - you can see little touches everywhere, in particular the hanging posters on the street. Fans of the anime come to the market to see the real-life setting, and in one of my favourite restaurants there's a guestbook with notes and drawings from the visitors. It has given the market a little bit of a celebrity status and the shop-owners seem happy to use that to their advantage.

Some of my favourite shops...

 

1) This fruit and veg shop. 

Anyone who has lived in Japan will know that 280yen for a big bunch of grapes, or 150yen for a bag of 10 carrots is amaaazing. If you haven't lived in Japan then that's really boring information for you, but it makes me very happy. 

2) The 100yen shop. 

100yen is roughly 75p, so it's like Poundland in the UK but even better. It sells stationary, kitchen equipment, household goods, food, decorations, anything you can think of. OK I know this is a huge chain in Japan and not exactly one of the quaint local shops I have been talking about, but as a broke student this place will always have a special place in my heart.

3) The okonomiyaki, takoyaki and taiyaki stands 

These don't 100% count as Demachi Shotengai since they're just outside, but I still consider them part of the street. Okonomiyaki is hard to describe, but it's kind of like a.. fried cabbage potato pancake. It used to be what poor people in Japan ate because it's just a mish-mash of easy ingredients - kind of like bubble and squeak in the UK (potato, cabbage & any other roast dinner leftovers fried together). But then they add things like squid or seaweed to make it more... Japan. Takoyaki is octopus fried in batter. Taiyaki is fish shaped pancakes, usually filled with red-bean paste or custard. I tend to avoid the takoyaki since I still can't get my head around octopus, but if I need a quick and cheap lunch then okonomiyaki and taiyaki do the job perfectly and are only 400 yen together (less than £3 and much better/more filling than a UK meal deal). 

So yes, as you can tell, I love my new area. Obviously my location in relation to Kyoto city was the main selling point but actually, I could stay within the 10 minute radius of my house and probably be happy for the rest of the year. 

This link has loads more information about the history of the market so I'm going to leave it here and come back to read it when I'm not drowning in work and to-do lists:

http://likeafishinwater.com/2014/04/18/demachi-masugata-shotengai/

Day Out in Arashiyama

Arashiyama is a district in the west of Kyoto which is hugely popular with tourists. Eager to see what all the fuss was about, me and my friend headed their on a day off from university. Our first stop was one of the most famous sights in Kyoto - the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. Having seen tons of Instagrams and read countless blogs about how the bamboo grove 'feels like another world', I armed myself with my camera and expected to be instantly transported to a Ghibli-esque land. I have to say, I was a little bit disappointed. 

Don't get me wrong, it was fun. I love the sound of bamboo moving in the wind and how small you can feel stood in the middle of the towering trees. I haven't seen bamboo so densely packed or well looked after anywhere else. But... firstly, I was disappointed by how short the path was. It's only 500 metres, which at a normal pace would take like 5 minutes. Obviously, it's really beautiful so you want to take your time and soak up all the magic, but that's kind of hard to do with how busy it is. You have to be constantly alert for cyclists or rickshaws running past, and navigate your way carefully past all the selfies/photos. Hence I don't really have any photos of it to share, despite it being one of the most Instagrammable places in Japan (I also left my ISO setting on way too high so I am partly to blame..). I completely understand why it's recommended to come very early in the morning; I can imagine how at that time, with the light just coming through the trees and no other people about, it could feel otherworldly. But for me, it was more of a pleasant stroll than an event in itself. 

However!!! The rest of the day in Arashiyama more than made up for it. At the end of the bamboo grove we visited Jojakko-ji temple, which actually felt more magical with its mossy hills, lanterns and beautiful view of Kyoto. After that we headed down to explore the main street of Arashiyama. According to InsideKyoto, the main street is 'nothing but a tourist circus' and time would be better spent in the bamboo forest. I would disagree. There was such a lively buzz, a lot of really unique shops and tons of things to look at. My favourite shop was the 'craft museum of Arashiyama' which sold hanging mobiles and other handmade crafts that were an absolute treat for the eyes.

Next on the list was the Arashiyama Monkey Park on Iwatayama. So I actually wasn't sure how much I wanted to do this bit of the day. I know Japan doesn't always have the best treatment of animals so I thought it might make me sad, it was getting a bit late and cold, and it was a big old hike up the mountain to reach it. But it was only about 500yen so we went for it, and I am SO glad! Firstly, the monkeys (Japanese Macaques or snow monkeys) aren't confined at all. It seemed like a kind of similar set up to the deer in Nara, where they are reliant on the humans for food so choose to hang around but aren't forced to be there. There were no fences and no cages. I really enjoyed watching them... though from a safe distance, since they kept getting into fights and were definitely capable of getting quite aggressive. 

But the monkeys weren't the only attraction; the top of the mountain also had the best view of Kyoto I have seen yet. And that's saying something, because I already seem to have viewed Kyoto from about 20 different angles around the city. We were there at about 4.30pm so the light was just starting to fade and (sounding like a broken record here) it was really really magical. Once the sun had set it started to get super cold so we headed down, spent a little bit of time looking at the peaceful Togetsukyo bridge then headed back to the station. 

We hadn't really eaten all day so I finished off with a warm Chinese style dumpling to get me through the journey home. It was an exhausting day but so much fun and I definitely think that Arashiyama deserves all the hype it's got - though not for the place it's best known for. Unfortunately this visit was just before the leaves started changing so we didn't get to see any of the beautiful colours, but maybe I'll head back for sakura season and try to catch the bamboo at a better time of day.

Autumn at Hieizan

Whenever I used to get nervous about coming to Japan, the best way to relax myself was to go on Google images and look at pictures of Kyoto in autumn. It's fair to say I was pretty excited for the season to start. However, the most beautiful viewing spots in the city centre also come with the cost of being mad busy around this time of year. Luckily for me, a friend offered to drive to the (much quieter) top of Mount. Hiei 比叡山 to do some maple leaf exploring!

Hieizan lies North East of Kyoto, between Kyoto and Shiga prefecture. At the top of the mountain is Enryaku-ji, a huge Buddhist monastery which is the headquarters of the Tendai branch of Buddhism. It's location in the North East is important, since this direction is bad luck in Fusui (the Japanese version of Feng Shui) - building the monastery at the top of Mount Hiei thus protects Kyoto from all the bad vibes coming that way. 

Enryaku-ji was founded in 1788 by a monk called Saicho. At this time the 6 main schools of Buddhism, based in the old capital Nara, were becoming increasingly corrupt so the Emperor wanted to support and encourage new branches - Tendai became the main one (though this branch didn't remain free from corruption either..). Tendai Buddhism was more accessible to the general population than previous branches had been, and pretty much all of the Big Dog's in Japanese Buddhist history studied at Enryaku-ji monastery at some time or another. In more recent news - it faced a huge scandal in 2006 because it accepted a ton of money from the Yakuza (like the Japanese mafia) to host a ceremony for their former leaders. Not very Buddhist of them. A lot of temples are really struggling to find money these days, so I guess it was desperate times. So yes, it's a really important place if you're into Japanese religion/history. But even if you're not into any of that, it's still beautiful!

Enryaku-ji is made up of 3 large areas, which I think would be hard to fit into 1 day if you really want to enjoy it all. After an amazing drive up the mountain we started with the biggest area which is called Todo:

Lovely maples, lovely buildings, all good. However it was still a little busy so we wandered off the path for a while and came across a smaller closed-up temple called Honen-do. Honen is super important in Japanese Buddhism since he founded the popular Jodo-shu/Pure Land branch, so it was surprising to find that a temple where he studied was so quiet and inconspicuous. Even though it was closed, the old lady looking after it noticed us and invited us in which led to my favourite part of the day! She sat us down, explained the history of the temple to us and then made us tea. But making tea isn't a straight forward thing in Japan. First there was the green tea and biscuits, then there was matcha and red-bean wafer sweets, then some type of black tea. She said she wanted to make us lunch too but didn't have enough ingredients. I don't think I'll ever get over how welcome some Japanese people can make you feel. She also let us practice calligraphy! Since I can't even read kanji let alone write it, I assume mine was awful, but it was really fun and relaxing anyway. It was a completely random find but we ended up spending hours there - the best kind of day :D 

When we finally dragged ourselves away we were really hungry so got some soba noodles and more tea before moving on. 

The final part of the day... the lovely old lady recommended the Yokawa area of Enryaku-ji which is the least visited. She said it would be quieter, and that it had the best momiji (maple leaves) at that time. She was definitely right! It was so peaceful there and the colours were insane. By this point I was a bit history-d out so just wandered round enjoying the views instead of reading up on what everything was.

It was a really great day and I'm so glad the autumn leaves lived up to my hours of Googling imaging. Enryaku-ji is quite a hassle to get to (easiest by car but there are expensive tolls, alternatively you can get the bus or cable car) but I think it's worth it and can fill up at least a day. The old lady at Honen-do was very enthusiastic about seeing us again so I guess I'll have to return!

Pointless Jobs in Japan

Japan is home to some of the most unnecessary jobs I can think of. 

We drove through a toll booth the other day, the kind where you press a button and a ticket comes out to pay off later in the day. Pretty straight forward - but nope - there was a man stood there being paid to push the button for us and hand us the ticket. 

The week after that I accidentally found my way into a fancy department store, and in the lift there was someone being paid to push the button to my floor for me. 

On my 15 minute walk to university (a fairly rural route), I pass about 10 security guards stood at various gates to who knows what. They're so regular that we now say good morning to each other, but I've still never seen them do anything. There seems to be a crazy amount of security for a country with one of the lowest crime rates in the world. On my campus there are also security guards paid to watch over every bicycle stand for the entire day, making sure they're all parked with permission and stood perfectly in line.  

Finally, the one that I've noticed since day 1 - crossing guards. They stand with these red baton/light sabers at traffic light crossings and... do the exact same thing as the traffic light. I could maybe understand this in densely populated areas, to stop people crossing when they shouldn't, but they are everywhere and however much I try I just can't see why that would be useful above primary school age. 

a crossing guard in Kyotanabe

I'm sure if I thought hard I could come up with plenty more. I find Japan's determination to hang onto jobs like this really interesting. The country is so famous for its advancement in robot technology etc. etc., yet there is no move to replace a single human job any time soon - even when a capable machine is literally stood there alongside the human, like the traffic lights and toll booth. There's also all the problems in Japan's economy at the moment; from that point of view, getting rid of unnecessary jobs seems like a no-brainer. But I didn't want to jump to criticism too much, so I asked my Japanese friend why he thought they were there, and he came up with 2 points... 

1) Almost all the people working as security, crossing guards etc. are men above retirement age. I'm not sure about the details, but I've heard Japanese people mention many times how bad the pension scheme is here. I guess these jobs provide a supplement when the pension doesn't cover the families cost of living. Being Japan, and particularly for the older generations, this responsibility falls on the man.

My answer to this was that maybe they should scrap the jobs and improve the pension scheme with that money, but then it came to point 2... 

2) It gives them a responsibility. A reason to leave the house everyday and stay active. From what I've learnt in my classes Japan in increasingly interested in the idea of workfare, where in order to get welfare someone has to do a job which is seen to contribute to society (however mundane). It doesn't need to be particularly useful, because it's more for the do-er than the receiver. Japanese society does have this crazy intense work ethic - like working until 9pm+ every day kind of crazy - so I can see why completely retiring from a job which has consumed so much of your life could be a shock to the system. There's also the fact that their life expectancy is so long; old people stay agile for much longer, and they're living in a society where everyone should be seen to contribute in some way.  Thinking about this, I found it less of a surprise that people past the age of retirement continue to work in jobs like the ones mentioned.

Personally, I'm undecided about whether I like it or not. These jobs aren't harming anyone, and if it does give the employee a sense of purpose and keeps them active and healthy then that's great. But if they're forced into it because the government gives them no other choice with such a poor pension scheme, or they've been overworking themselves for so long that they can't stop, that's not so great. I'd really love to interview one of them some day, but 1) the obvious language barrier and 2) it would be hard not to sound patronising and criticial (but why are you here???!) when I'm just genuinely curious to see their point of view. 

5. FEELINGS

I've officially been in Japan for 2 months, and earlier today I came across a blog post I wrote (but never posted) towards the beginning where I talked about all the things I was struggling with. I talked about the pressure you feel when you've been told for so long that something will be the best experience of your life - it meant that anything less than perfect felt like a total failure to me. Being in a new country is really bloody hard and for the first few weeks I definitely had a lot of anxiety that I would never get the hang of it. But I am VERY happy to report that 2 months in and my confidence has increased x10000. Kyoto has started to feel like my home and that makes me happy beyond words :D

Without wanting to sound like too much of a cheesy finding-myself traveller, the thing that I've learned the most here is how resourceful we can be. I tend to be a very lucky person and good things are usually handed to me with little effort on my part, but coming to Japan has made me realise that if things don't happen that way the world doesn't fall apart. I'm just working harder, puzzling things out and coming out with experiences that I can be even more proud of because I've been active in making them happen.

I still get very exhausted and homesick sometimes - apparently around 3 months is the peak of that so there is more to look forward to - but that's all OK. On December 1st I'm moving house. Currently I live in an apartment in Kyotanabe, a suburb city, about an hour away from central Kyoto. I've met some amazing people here and grown really attached to the community, but it isn't the place I believed I was applying for and since I'm here for only 1 year I want it to be the best it can possibly be. It's going to be a long, stressful and very expensive process moving to the centre but I've got so much to look forward to once I'm there!

Basically, I'm good. Having wanted to come to Japan for so many years I had set the bar ridiculously high in my head, and I really worried at the start, but overall I think this country is actually exceeding my expectations. I know it's early days and I don't want to speak to soon but yeah, that's my life right now :)