were bk in tokyo! thank god

kyoto was rubbish.. geishas are a myth. they literally practically do not exist. there are supposedly 1000 geisha left in kyoto out of millions of people. how can the guidebooks even get away with plastering the geisha photos all over the front covers? well done lonley planet! you liars! no one will ever spot a geisha in this curtain twitchy town of nothing. yes, there was nothing actually in kyoto- its all behind closed wooden doors and linen curtains. exclusive to wealthy asian business man. the best we could hope for was a pair of geisha feet that we saw under a door.

and it rained. alot

ok im ranting- but i did see an old lady in kimono, helping a man out of his car in the rain. and she smiled at me. and i smiled back and it was magical. that was my highlight.

so bk in tokyo!! we got up this morning at 5-am to go the fish market. with our new thai friend tibby (from california) who has had no problem talking to the japanese people in ENGLISH! yes thats right, they will talk to her in english, as she looks thai. but not to us white british idiots.

got to the market as the fish was coming off of the boats and sold directly from the market. between 5 and 7 am was a crazy time. rushing around carrying huge fish, the workers selling and carving and packing so quickly. they proper dicapatate the fish in front of you..got some great photos and i think that maybe becuase i dont eat much fish, i wasnt too phased by the process of it. the blood and chopping of head.. yea it was interesting to watch actually!

tibby was hilarious! tryting all the japanese food she could get her hands on all day! she wanted to cram in as much experience as she could into 24hrs. so after this, we scooted along to roppongi hills - to see the giant spider sculpture! which dissapointingly isnt as giant as it looks on google!

then we went to yamaku cemetery as i wanted to check it out. cultural differnecs and all. it was very peaceful and crowded (with tombstones) seems each family or person gets a large 15 feet cornered off private square area..where they bury the ashes. massive stone shrines..bigger than me! it was raining ,alittle eery.

the other highlight of the day was a photography museum, which exhibited winners of the press photography competition 2009. stunning work, featuring obama and michelle photographs, earthquake in china, parents dealing wit autistic kids and many more very moving and also disturbing work. its just confusing more, what sort of photography do i wanna do?

any-who, we were out for 15 hrs. very nakering day but totally worth it

L&N