Tokushima

The next morning saw us checking out of the comfy home base of Takamatsu's Toyoko Inn and boarding the train to Tokushima. The crowded little train bore us along for about an hour before depositing us at Tokushima station, all a-bustle with excitement for the biggest event of the year - the Awa-odori festival. The station was packed with visitors, hawkers, and information booths.
Still too early to check into our next hotel, we called the Jurobei Yashiki to find out the next showtime for the bunraku show. I had never seen Japanese puppet theater but had always wanted to, so when we found out that the show was in a couple of hours, we headed to the bus terminal to find out how to get to the puppet house. Unfortunately, the buses run quite infrequently to that area - perhaps fewer than one an hour - so we opted to take a taxi. It cost, I believe, about 1500 yen.
Bunraku was really wonderful. The spare building was reminiscent of a prarie church, all whitewash and high ceiling and bare wooden planking and long pews, but the smell was of cedar.
The show was short but great, the puppets skillfully handed by teams dressed in head-to-toe black sheaths; but the show stealer, for me, was the fact that, unlike kabuki, the artists were all women. The handlers, the narrator, the shamisen player, even the ushers, ticket sellers, and souvenir shopkeepers were all female. Very refreshing after many repeat visits to the admittedly lovely kabuki in Tokyo, which is of course so male-dominated.

Returning to town in time for the festival, we checked into the hotel and wandered the streets gawping at the dancers and searching for vegetarian food, which was incredibly hard to find. Even Italian places, usually ubiquitous in even small to medium sized Japanese cities, were conspicuously absent. We finally stumbled upon a Doma Doma, packed to the rafters with festival goers, and snagged two seats around the big central shared table, where I had my usual buttered corn, edamame, and garlic fried potatoes. We ate & drank our fill and paid our check.
And danced into the night.

Demon island

After a leisurely start and a late breakfast at dotour, we bought some St. Marc chocolate croissants and bided our time shopping and browsing before boarding the 1310 ferry bound for 女木島 - Megishima - aka 鬼ヶ島 - Onigashima.
In Momotaro's legend, the Peach Boy and his band of animal friends went off to an island to defeat some unruly demons that were making local life miserable. He did so and returned home to his village victorious. This island is where the battle is purported to have taken place. There is even a cave where the demons are claimed to have resided, which also apparently sheltered some pirates way back when. It's unclear to me whether the pirates and the demons ever coexisted, but that would make for an even better story.
We toured the cave, very cool (in both senses of the word) and extensive, and with many strategically placed demons. But Onigashima is much more than just a podunk tourist attraction - the island is actually fairly large, with a year-round population and lots of breathtaking nature. The views from the top of the island are particularly nice, with the various islands dotting the Inland Sea and the clouds high over the water. The swimming was adequate, as well, and all in all a pleasant afternoon was spent.

Takamatsu

After all that travel, we slept in, and plodded downstairs to renew another night.
We had wanted to hit the Noguchi sculpture garden, but it turns out that you need a reservation and that it's only on certain days - so calling in advance is a must.
It also turned out to be a bit too late to go to Megi island, also known as Onigashima, or demon island. Ferries only depart until about 4, last return is at 5ish. We would only have been able to spend a couple of hours, and we wanted more time than that so - put it off too.
Instead, we hopped on the local train and headed over to Ritsurin park, a beautiful garden about 400 years old. The grounds are quite large, and there's lots of wildlife swarming the various ponds, including a bunch of turtles just aching for attention.
We ate the local specialty of sanuki udon, guaranteed vegetarian by the old man vendor, though I doubt it was truly vegetarian, even though he claimed that there was no fish in the broth. We also sampled karin juice, which translates as quince in my dictionary.
Later, a delicious yuzu smoothie at a cafe in Kawaramachi arcade, gazing down as herds of girls decked out in festival gear paraded by.
Dinner was more sanuki udon for him and potato pizza for me.

Kyushu or Shikoku?

Two southern islands I'd never been to. Both have beaches. Both have allure. Which to choose?
Travelling by Seishun 18 kippu helped to make that decision. Dirt cheap, but you can only take JR local trains, or at best, JR Rapid or night trains.
The night trains get booked up months in advance. I tried to secure a booking on the Moonlight Nagawa, the best way to get to the tip-top of Kyushu in one 24-hour period, to no avail. Manseki.
So Shikoku it was.

We left pretty early - around 6am, and got our ticket stamped at Yokohama. From there, it was a steady stream of local trains, changing at such hot spots as Atami, Maibara, and Ogaki. Tired around 2pm, we deboarded in Kyoto to get some lunch at an Italian place in the station.

We finally arrived in Takamatsu at around 830 pm, and wandered around searching for the hotel that we had reserved through the Tocoo system. When we finally found the place and tried to assert our rights with our reservation number, the grumpy man at the counter told us it would be impossible. He didn't have our reservation, he claimed. Muri - dame, he said. How rude. Fuck you, Tocoo. Either that, or the guy didn't want to deal with us.

So we walked in to a Toyoko Inn and asked for a room, and behold! They had one for us. We got a single, double use, for about 7000 yen. A great deal, especially for a walk-in! I highly recommend this place - we stayed at Toyoko Inns for the rest of our trip, and were very happy. They have free internet in the lobby, free breakfast in the morning, and the single room is neither cramped as the LP claims nor is the bed a single bed - it's quite a comfortable double, in fact bigger than some of the "semi-doubles" that I've paid for in other business hotels.

By the time we got checked in and accommodated, it was too late to go anywhere for dinner. There's a Lawson right next to the hotel, though, so I got my usual wakame onigiri and made dinner of conbini-fare.

Travelling on the train all day takes it out of you. I slept an exhausted sleep.

motorbiking, at night, in a t-shirt, in the summer, through the dozens of little towns inbetween my grandparents' oldhouse and my apartment. lonely dark and hot, kept company by the cicadas trilling in the trees; but then, the pop of firecrackers as i pass a park, and some children in summer kimono traipsing home after a festival, red lanterns lit.

Macau

We took the ferry over from Kowloon to Macau to see the Portuguese-Chinese culture and to get more stamps in our passports.

In Macau, the crumbling buildings manage to look charming rather than menacing and depressing as they do in HK. It's all the scrollwork and marble that gives it a dilapidated splendor.

The Museum of Macau, next to Monte Fort, is excellent. Really interesting displays telling about the history and customs of the area. I like the way the introduction claims that the museum is trying to present the way that the two cultures influenced each other without judging either one as being superior. Touchy, surely, after 400 years of colonial rule, but 400 years is a long time. So much must be ingrained. Nice views from around the Fort, too.

I just want to say that Northwest is a terrible airline, with bitchy flight attendents, horrible food, and incredibly cramped conditions. Fly Korean. Fly Singapore. Fly China Airlines. Even Delta. NWA: saiaku!

Kowloon

Kowloon, a steamy mess of lights and people and guys muttering "copy watch? copy watch? handbag." at you in the alleys. The streets are teeming and pungent and it's a game to avoid the incessant dripping of a thousand air conditioners raining putrid water from the endless highrises above.
Odors are rising in steam every few feet, from suspect pots, each looking as if some 1000 year old deep sea creature were trying to crawl out, or as if there was a porcine war and this pot is a receptacle outside of the field hospital where many unfortunate, brave hoggy souls have valiantly lost their limbs and have been subject to amputation.
There are drip ducks in doorways and buckets full of turtles and toads outside of restaurants and aquarium stores, and which is which?

HK island

There is a klatch of Chinese ladies chattering in the hall. I can hear them as I come foggily out of my nap. Then I realize what an inane observation that is. I'm in Hong Kong. Of Course there are Chinese ladies in the hall.
Let me take a moment to tip my hat to the Pacific Coffee Company. Yes, it's probably an evil international chain, but I had never seen it before coming to HK, and they have very good coffee and muffins and free internet. Pacific Coffee Company, where Billy Joel (Just the Way You Are) and Simply Red are the musical currency, though this is by no means unique - we heard these two brilliant artists all over the shopping districts of HK and Kowloon.
We rode the ferry over to HK island and found ourselves a tasty vegetarian restaurant for lunch, after being stymied twice by the non-existence of two other veg places we had the addresses for, from Lonely Planet and Happy Cow. Actually, the first had probably been knocked down as there was construction of a new hotel occuring on the site. The latter's building was undergoing remodeling, so it might still be in existence, but just wasn't accessible at the time. No matter. On Hennessey street smack between the two we found Tung Fong Siu Kee Yuen, claiming on their business card to have been established in 1918. Outta sight! The food was good, the menu large and available in English, the service good enough. I reviewed them over on Happy Cow.
After that, we located the really long series of escalators that climb HK island. I was under the mistaken impression that these moving staircases could bear one all the way to the top of Mt. Victoria - boy was I wrong. I did buy some cute clothes on the way up, though, for about a dollar apiece. The escalator-side city life is really interesting, and you wouldn't know it was there if you didn't know it was there. Tons of restaurants and shops and hawkers flank the escalators and there are lots of places to get off and browse.

We got to the top of the escalators and tried to walk up the rest of the mountain. Big mistake. Soon, tired and mosquito-bitten, we found our way to a bigger road and flagged down a cab, requesting the top of the island. Where there's a mall.

It was beautiful, though. Nice views of HK and Kowloon. After, we took the ropeway back down to the bottom and got on the subway back to our side of the water.

HK, I feel you, I hope you comprehend.

Hong Kong: Arrival

We arrived in Hong Kong pretty late at night and got on the subway to Kowloon, where we navigated our way to our guesthouse, the Cosmic, located in the Mirador Mansions. The first impression of Kowloon was pretty overwhelming - so much action, even late at night - people, tall tall buildings and lights.
Our room was okay, with its own shower-power, but it did fell a bit like a huge bathroom, because it was floor to ceiling white tile. The window was about a foot from the next cement apartment block, so it was much like having no window at all.
The administration was nice, though.
I recommend trying to either get a room with a window looking outdoors, or try the hostel right upstairs. I think it's called the Garden Guesthouse, and the manager showed me rooms with great views overlooking the water.