José, can you see

We have officially returned and I've spent the better part of today trying to get my head to stop rattling around in its socket - unfortunately taking 10 days off on the trot doesn't mean the work will do the same. Nevertheless, between bouts of fevered activity my coworkers were interested in how Guam went; they were the ones who put the idea in my head to start with. The recommendation came with an asterisk - Guam apparently isn't a place you go if you want a super sightseeing holiday. However, it is a place you go if you want to eat, shop and read your book until people aren't sure where you end and the deckchair begins. They seemed pleased we had a great time and wanted to know all about it - maybe you do too.

Mount Fluji

The past 2 weeks are almost entirely a blur, but what I can tell you is that both Lisa and I have contracted what I've christened "Fuji Flu" which causes coughing, sneezing and an intense desire to never climb a mountain again ever. The symptoms are probably to be expected, considering we spent most of the climb being buffeted by torrents of wind and rain; these dropped the temperature to a level you'd normally associate with being inside eating marshmallows, rather than scrabbling over slippery rocks 3km above the earth's surface. Once we had collapsed in ruin into our seats on the bus, we flicked through the photos we'd taken from our holiday and found it hard to imagine that it had all taken place in the same 5 day period. Lots and lots of things happened - let's see if I can't start from the beginning.

Grindstone cowboy

I was expecting some kind of explosion when I got back to work, or at least opening the office door to find myself washed away by a comical tide of paper. Things were suspiciously quiet though - Monday passed without so much as a rumble and then I went on a brief business trip to Tokyo and came back similarly unaccosted. I can hear the beast lurking in the shadows though, paper skin all a-crinkle. He watches me through hole-punched eyes and gnashes his paperclip teeth, waiting for the moment I drop my guard and say wow, not long till holidays.

Taipei as you go

It seems the year stole a few bases on us while we weren't looking, so now it's August and the summer holidays are halfway done as if by magic. Work gave up without too much of a fight 2 Fridays ago, kicking off a 16 day break which was for the most part spent in sunny (steamy tropical oh god do I even have sweat glands there) Taipei. Unusually enough, we were packed and organised days in advance so by the time we headed out toward the airport, we were bordering on calm. We weren't quite sure what to expect when we got there - I couldn't work out if it was going to be more like Bangkok or Singapore - but as long as they had beer and dim sum it was going to be alright with me.

First there was nothing

There really is very little separating relative calm from infernos of spending in this country and I've felt the kindling building up for a while now. Having two instant gratification-type personalities in a place full of temptations and endless monopoly money is what people in the metaphor business would call "bushfire conditions". As always, the spark ignited just as we had declared we were going to be sensible; I think I'm finally starting to understand why we love it here.

Getting away from it all

After what seemed like far too long, we finally managed to leave our warren for more than a day and spent the better part of Golden Week eating, drinking and photographing our way across Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I thought it was going to be ghastly to be honest - no matter how expensive or obscure something is, at this time of year it will be booked out and crowded to the point of ruination; you really wonder where all these people come from. However, we bucked the trend - despite almost a complete lack of planning on our part, everything fell into place and we ended up scarcely putting a foot wrong.

Cake bus, cat bus, silver robot hat bus

Our Tokyo long weekend had several essential components. There were to be new experiences like the Ghibli Museum and the Tokyo Game Show. Eggs Benedict had to be involved somehow. Most important of all, we needed rice cooker banana cake for what became known as "cake bus".

The rice cooker beeped, cake was wrapped in foil, the stage was set. We grabbed our bags and headed out the door on the most successful Tokyo trip I've ever been on.

I think I might have just spoiled the ending.

A small town lad

You'll be pleased to know that the blog bus didn't go down in fiery ruin as expected, leaving me tapping out my last few pithy jokes at the bottom of a gorge in Nishiwaki. I lived on for at least another prosperous few days of travel, beer and in time, a desperate need to not do anything any more.

Tokyo, I'm sorry - we're just not right for one another.

Hi ho, hi ho

My brain really didn't want to admit that the break was over, and that there's now an almost uninterrupted 10 week slog to summer holidays. I'm sure once I get into the swing of it I'll be fine and I'll hardly realise the weekend is gone before there's another one. For now though, I'm going to crossly get out of bed and frown all the way on the train to work. So long holidays, and thanks for all the fish.

Cracking crabs and clacking clogs

It was with slight nostalgia that Lisa and I headed out to Kinosaki Onsen on Sunday, probably because we were driving up there in early March, in a rented Mazda, to stay for 1 night at a little Japanese inn with a crab hotpot laid on for dinner. If it weren't for our wrinkles and the chronically sensible car we drove up in, you'd swear it was 2006.

Keen on sake

After much farting around, Lisa and I have finally managed to organise and book a trip up to Kinosaki the onsen town. Hiroshima had no hotels free, Nara's only 90 minutes away so it's more of a day trip than a long weekendy place and every time the thought of going to Tokyo even enters your head, it $37.50 is debited from your bank account.

We had about 6 tries at booking places to stay at Kinosaki before we finally hit paydirt this morning. This was after my school principal explained that the recession was hitting the area hard and they were struggling to fill the rooms. Maybe he forgot to add "with you". Kinosaki is one of the few places in Japan that really makes sense to drive to - renting a car is actually cheaper than getting the train up there. I was seriously considering renting an RX8, but then I realised that for the same price, I could get a Mazda 2 and one hundred and twenty beers. I hope the boot's big enough.

In any case, we'll be heading off on Sunday to stay at a ryokan (Japanese inn). The area's specialty is crab so they'll be putting on a crab hotpot for us in our room and then we'll be free to wander the hot springs. It will be a big weekend of things in hot water. Hopefully I can keep my camera dry enough to get some good pictures.

Play that funky music, wasshoi

There's a poetic simplicity to the Naked Man Festival - it doesn't try to be anything other than thousands of men dressed in loincloths beating each other to a pulp to try and get a stick the size of a Coke can. It must be very liberating to stamp on someone's face for that silly a reason. Given the choice between “participant” and “spectator” however, I soundly ticked the latter. The world really doesn’t need to see me in a loincloth.